My New Life in ToS
by WhiteFoxDemon
Summary: The usual self insert. A girl is transported to Tales of Symphonia after a series of weird events.
1. A New Life, Literally

**Well now, this is another annoying self-insert. This is my first story and I thought if everyone hated it, I could blame it on being a self-insert instead of my poor writing skills. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and all that good stuff! -**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Tales of Symphonia. If I did, I'd be too busy working on the sequel to even think of writing this.

**Chapter 1 A New Life, Literally.**

Drip, Drop.

Drip, Drop.

Huh, what's going on? I slowly start to wake up… Why is it wet? Is someone trying to wake me up? Dang. Now I'm cold. Did they take off my covers too?

Drip Drop.

Fine, fine. I'm up I'm up evil person. I thought and I open my eyes to find out I'm not in my bed, not even my room. "Ughh" I said and I sit up to look around. I realized that I'm in my backyard sitting under a tree. I looked around and noticed a book beside me. I borrowed it from the library just yesterday. Great. I fell asleep reading… again… and now it's raining. What else can go wrong today? I groggily sat up, grabbed my book, and ran into my house to avoid getting drenched.

I reached my room and glanced at the clock… 3:07 A.M. Good, Mom won't be up to yell at me for a couple of hours, plenty of time to act like I didn't accidentally fall asleep in the backyard… again. I changed into pajamas and slipped under the covers in an attempt to get at least a couple hours worth of good sleep… in a bed.

"Time to get up Kira!"

"…"

"Kira"

"…"

"KIRA!!!"

"Ughhh… go away evil monkeys"

This is when my mother stops trying to wake me up the nice way. So she steals my pillow, blankets, and leaves me to wake up freezing. Oh, how I LOVE THE WORLD!!! I wake up for the second time this morning…Oh well, at least I'm not grounded again. I thought as I went through my morning routine. Hmmmm what should I wear today? I know I'll wear my dragon shirt (A light blue shirt with a silver dragon) and some jeans. I glanced at my clock. Oh no, I'm gonna be late again! I raced into the bathroom, brushed my teeth, grabbed a bagel, and sprinted down the sidewalk to school.

I ran down the hall and finally reached the doorway to my classroom where my teacher just so happened to be standing when the dreaded bell rung. Crap, not again. I sheepishly grinned at my teacher. "Ummm can we pretend this never happened?" I said as angelic as humanly possible, hoping she would't count me late. She smiled and pointed to the office.

Great. Stupid teacher out to get me… I was less then a second late and I need to report to the stupid office to get a stupid slip and then walk all the way back to her stupid classroom. What a great way for another crummy day to start.

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"Kira… Kira…Kira!!!!"

"Huh what's going on, is school over?" I said as I tried to figure out who was trying to wake me up. I found myself staring at my friend. "Oh hey Jen…what's up?"

She rolled her eyes and replied, "Obviously not you sleepyhead, class is already over and now it's time for our favorite 7th hour class in the world. Physics!"

"Sometimes I hate your sarcastic comments… they're so believable at times." I muttered and I got up to follow her out of the classroom, and into another classroom. I started to fall asleep again but thanks to good ol' Jen, who happened to have a sharp pencil, I stayed awake. I actually started to pay attention but then my ADD kicks in, or since I don't really have ADD, my 'I don't care kicks in' and I started daydreaming about how I finally have enough money to buy The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

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"Finally…" I sighed out as soon as the bell rung, signaling that school is finally over.

"You need to be more optimistic! It wasn't that bad." Jen chirps from beside me.

"And you need to learn how to eat less sugar." I paused. "How much sugar did you have?"

"Not that much. Only twenty pixie sticks."

I gaped at her. "Twenty!? You ate twenty pixie sticks in one day!? Wait. Let me rephrase that. You ate twenty pixie sticks in one day and DIDN"T EVEN GIVE ME ONE!?!?"

She grinned uncertainly and took a couple steps back. "Eh heh heh. I didn't know you wanted any."

I started to slowly walk towards her. "I already told you that I woke up today, outside, in the freakin rain. Why WOULDN'T I want a pixie stick?"

She continued to back away slowly. "You get really scary when you talk like that." She suddenly smiled again. "I would never forget about you!" She pulled out twelve pixie sticks. "It's all I have left and you bought the gummy worms yesterday."

"Yay!" I yelled and tackled her to grab the pixie sticks. I sat down beside her and started to eat them.

"You're welcome." Jen beamed. She stared at me eating the pixie sticks with puppy dog eyes.

"…Fine." I sighed and handed her two. I'm such a pushover… "But no more. You're crazy when you have too much sugar."

"Thanks! I'll see you tomorrow then!" She started walking away. "Oh, and have a good time playing you're new Zelda game."

I stopped eating the pixie sticks. I completely forgot about it when I saw the pixie sticks. Oh crud. What if they're sold out!? Wait. Can they do that when I reserved one? I raced to the store and reach the counter. "Excuse me sir, but I reserved a copy of The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess."

"Name?" He asks.

"Kira Clark."

"Here ya go. That'll be 52.99."

After I bought the game, I'm on my way home thinking about how much fun I'll have killing Ganon and saving Hyrule. I then thought about my favorite game for the Gamecube, Tales of Symphonia. I wondered how much better this new game will be… I love Tales and let's just hope Zelda can beat it! Who am I kidding? This new Zelda will win! Even though if this game is anything like Wind Waker let's just say ummm…

I was lost in thought about how much Wind Waker could have been better when suddenly…

"Whoa kid, GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

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Pain, so much pain. It hurts so much… Why can't I feel anything but pain?

"Get her into surgery NOW!"

I'm confused. Who's going into surgery? Why can't I move my body?

"No No We're losing her!"

Who?

"No… she's gone… she's dead."

Who's dead? I thought when I could open my eyes again. What's going on? I thought as I looked at a body surrounded by 5 doctors. Wait. Who's that on the table… is it… me? And why AM I FLOATING!?!? "I'm a ghost…" I whispered in shock.

"You catch on quick kid."

"Huh?" I said as I turned around to come face to face with a demon. He was a cat demon judging by the black cat ears and tail but I didn't get to see much else as he raised a bat and knocked me unconscious.

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"Ughhh. Now where am I?" I said as I slowly regained consciousness.

"In my lab."

I turn to see the cat demon from before dressed in a white lab coat with gloves. There were a lot of vials and charts but I couldn't understand any of it even if I tried. I noticed that I'm strapped to a table.

"What's going on? Who are you!?" I yelled as I struggled to free myself.

"Now now. No need to be upset. I am Kuro and you should thank me for giving you a second chance at life."

Before I got a chance to ask what he meant by a second chance at life, he held up a mirror. I gasped at what I saw. I was no longer a human girl with brown hair and blue eyes. I was now a demon with white fox ears and silverish, almost white hair. I still had blue eyes but now they had a green rim around the pupil.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME!?!?!" I screamed.

He cringed and covered his ears. "Would you please stop screaming? If you haven't noticed, I'm a cat demon and can hear just fine."

"JUST TELL ME WHAT"S GOING ON!"

"I will if you just stop screaming!" Kuro yelled.

"FINE… just tell me why I happen to be a demon." I replied, struggling to keep my voice calm and fought the urge to CLAW OFF HIS FACE. He's lucky I'm strapped to a table...

"Well, your life as a human already ended, I just kidnapped your soul."

"My soul?"

"Yes. I needed your soul because only a human soul would be fit to bring out the full power in that body you now possess. It's not too strong in fighting, but an exceptional healer."

"A healer?" I groaned. I hated being the healer… it's just so… boring. I liked to be on the frontlines in the middle of a battle, not sitting back and… healing.

"There is also another reason I took your soul. It's perfectly balanced between good and evil. You focused your entire life on being balanced between good and evil, right and wrong, and now your soul is neutral. Your soul can take the natural evil of a demon and the natural goodness of a healer." He then got a crazy psychotic look in his eyes, "You are a perfect tool to take over worlds because your new body carries the essen-"

Kuro never finished his sentence because just then, an alarm went off.

"Wha? what's going on?" I asked, confused.

"Shit, they're coming for you."

"Who?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he pulled out a knife, cut the straps binding me in, and dragged me down a corridor.

"You just need to trust me and do exactly as I say."

I scoffed. This guy kidnaps me and expects me to trust him? I think not.

After Kuro dragged me through a bunch of rooms, we finally reached the one he was looking for and stop. He opened the door and inside it is a hall filled with a bunch of different doors labeled as different dimensions.

"Okay, you're a healer so the best weapon for you is this," He instructed and pulled out a bow, "This is a magic bow that is specifically designed to be used by you and creates it's own arrows using your specific energy signature. We're going to hide in one of these dimensions until they lea-"

He suddenly stopped talking and his eyes widened. I noticed a small trickle of blood running from his mouth as he started to fall on me. In his back were 6 arrows.

"Run…" He whispered.

I didn't need to be told twice. I quickly dropped his body, ran around the corner, randomly opened a door, and jumped in.

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Chapter 1 is done! As far as reviews go they are nice and rock but if you're those type of people who hate leaving reviews because you don't know what to write (I know you exist because I'm one of them) then at least leave one review saying 'Good' or 'Bad' so I know if I should continue writing or not. If you write more then you rock!!

Kratos will enter in Chapter 2, which is ingeniously called Meeting Kratos.

I may stop naming chapters because I'm not good at naming things…


	2. Meeting Kratos

Okay I'm not lying when I say I don't know exactly what a Mary Sue is… sorry about that. I think a Mary Sue is when the main character is good at everything and everyone loves her… if my definition is right (correct me if it isn't) then I don't think Kira is a Mary Sue. I'm just trying to create a storyline different from just following the story's… errrrr I'm trying to keep the original storyline while creating another inside it, if that makes any sense at all. Anyway here's chapter 2 

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Tales of Symphonia

**Chapter 2 Meeting Kratos**

"Owww…" Yeah, I'm smart; I go into random portals that lead to God knows where. Smart move Kira, smart move… I thought as I landed on something. Well, at least it's a soft something.

"Get off me." A muffled and extremely pissed voice said.

"Oops, eh heh heh. Sorry about that." I sheepishly replied and gtt off whomever I fell on, and helped him up. "I'm really sorry I didn't mean to-" I trailed off as I realized who I'm talking to. It was Kratos! Kratty Krattie Kratos the mercenary/Seraph from Tales of Symphonia! I didn't have much time to think about what luck I had to end up in a dimension that I was actually familiar with when he spoke again.

"What are you?" He questioned, looking at me strangely.

"Huh?" I looked at myself and finally noticed that I'm wearing a white shirt and a white skirt with silver pants underneath, and I even had a fluffy white foxtail. I'm also wearing silver-colored gauntlets and boots. I looked around and noticed that we're on Derris-Kharlan in the creepy city filled with lifeless angels.

"Oh you mean the whole fox demon thing." I answered a couple minutes later, briefly forgetting about his question.

"You are a fox demon?"

"Well… yeah. I guess I am."

"Guess?" He echoed.

Should I answer him? Well why not? This is Kratos and he's probably one of the few people that can help me, especially if I'm on Derris-Kharlan. "Well ummm this is gonna sound strange but bear with me. I died and then some cat demon guy named Kuro kidnapped my soul. He said my soul was perfect for some experiment and how I'm now a powerful healer, he died and I ran away from some guys who were shooting arrows and randomly picked a dimension to go into, then I fell on top of you. Thanks for breaking my fall by the way." I say extremely fast and examined my nails at the end. I noticed that they're claws now and I'm lucky that these gloves are fingerless. Hey now I can actually claw someone's face up! I thought smiling.

He raised an eyebrow at my explanation.

"Soooooo if your going anywhere can I just travel with you for a while?" I hope he's going on the Chosen's journey soon… or else I'm as good as dead!

He started to walk away but I'm not letting him leave that easily.

"Hey Kratos, I said can I travel with you?"

That was a smart move on my part. You don't say someone's name, especially if that person is as smart as Kratos, when they don't tell you their name. Now, because of my mistake, I have a sword at my throat.

"Whoa," I squeaked and raised my hands in surrender, and dropped my bow, "Don't kill me."

"How do you know my name?" It wasn't said as a question as much as a statement, which meant 'Answer me before I slit your throat.'

"Well, I've heard about you that's all." I answered weakly.

"Lies. You just said you came from another dimension. How could you possibly have heard of me?"

"Ummm…" I really need to take courses on lying because I suck at it. Might as well tell him the truth. I don't think I can come up with a good lie to fool him now that he already doesn't trust me.

"Stop stalling."

"Okay Mr. Grumpy, I know about you from a game called Tales of Symphonia. It's a made up game where I come from and you happen to be one of the characters."

"Nonsense."

"Oh really… well then how would I know about Anna and Lloyd?" Smart move number two. Piss off Kratos when he has a sword at your throat.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't slit your throat right now." He threatened and pressed the blade closer to my throat.

"Ummm well I," Think Kira think. "What if I told you that your son isn't dead, and that I know where to find him." Oh God. Now I really hope he hasn't already gone on the Chosen's journey.

"What?" He asked, shocked.

"Yeah I know where he is," I started to say as I slowly pushed the blade away from my neck, "He lives by-"

At this time, Yggdrasil happened to be walking by and noticed Kratos and me. I am so damn lucky.

"Kratos who is this? …What is she?"

I sighed, "Is everyone gonna ask me that?"

"Lord Yggdrasil," Kratos said and bowed, "This is a girl that wants to join Cruxis."

Wow. Did Kratos just save me? Yes! I'm not gonna die WHOOT!

"And why should I let her join Cruxis?"

"She is a very gifted healer and will make an excellent addition to Cruxis."

He raised an eyebrow and looked over me skeptically. "Is that so? Very well, I trust your judgment. Be forewarned she is your responsibility. If she betrays us, she will be killed and you will be punished. Take her with you on your journey to help to Chosen."

"Yes, Lord Yggdrasil." Kratos then turned to me. "We need to find something to hide your ears and tail…" He said and started to walk to a seemingly random building.

"Hey, wait up!" I yelled and ran to catch up to him. "Why did you save me back there?"

He stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"You have useful information that I need. You will tell me everything you know or I will kill you." He started walking again and a few minutes later asked, "What is your name?"

"Name's Kira."

"Do you have a last name?" He asked as he went into a room filled with different clothes.

"No." I said as I thought about it. I don't like my last name and Kira Clark is dead, so technically I don't have a name.

"You need a last name if you're to come with me on the Chosen's journey. It would be very suspicious if you didn't." He pulled out a silver-colored trench coat and baseball cap, "Put these on. It's not a great disguise but it will do," He paused. "Unless you know of a better way to hiding your ears and tail."

"Ummm not really. I mean I heard some demons can hide their demonic features but I've been a demon for less than an hour so I don't know how… do I really have to wear the hat?" I said the word 'hat' with disgust.

"If you don't have a better idea then, yes."

I sighed in defeat and put on the trench coat. I didn't really mind the trench coat, in fact, I liked it, but I hate hats with a passion. I growled at the hat in disgust and grudgingly put it on.

He sighed." Stop acting like a child."

"Give me a break, I'm only seventeen."

"Nevertheless, stop complaining. I just saved your life so that's the least you can do."

"Yes father." I said with a small smirk. Since he won't kill me yet, why not piss him off a little. I do love to mess with people's heads and at least he's intelligent enough not to go insane and kill me… or is he? Well only one way to find out!

He twitched. "… Don't call me that…"

I smirked. "Well you did say I needed a last name and you could pull off being my father." Well he really doesn't look anything like me and is honestly a little too young to be my biological parent but he could pull off being my foster parent.

"No."

"C'mon Kratty. Just think, it'll be the perfect cover-up. You be a traveling mercenary who found a five year old orphan and adopted her."

"…"

"C'mon, it'll work!"

"No."

I crossed my arms and looked away. "Then you think of something better because I can't fight and you couldn't use the excuse of me being another mercenary."

Kratos sighed in defeat and put one hand on his face. "Fine. But don't call me…" He twitched "Kratty."

"That's the spirit!" I said completely ignoring the 'Kratty' topic. I honestly liked adding a 'y' or 'ie' to the end of people's names. It made me smile whenever I said the names, and them being annoyed is just a bonus!

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"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"How much longer?"

"About three hours."

"Grreeeaaaatt." I said as we continued to travel to Iselia. We couldn't just warp there because it would be too suspicious and traveling with Mr. Talkative is so much fun. Not. Why does Kratos have to be so anti-social? It's very depressing. So far all I'd gotten him to say since we left Derris-Kharlan is no, about three hours, his classic "…" and stop acting like a child. I do happen to like acting like a child… maybe more than I should but Kratos' anti-social nature isn't helping either!

5 minutes later.

"Hey look. It's a cute little bunny!" I went up to pet the bunny, forgetting that the bunnies here are evil and want to kill me.

"What? Move!" Kratos yelled and pushed me out of the way to kill the bunny.

"Hey! What'd you do that for!" I yell.

He glared at me as he sheaths his sword and states, "Are you really that stupid? That 'cute little bunny' as you put it was a monster that will not hesitate to kill you."

"Oh yeah… I forgot." I said sheepishly with a sweat drop.

"You really are a child."

"Will you stop calling me that."

"I will once you stop acting like one."

"…Jerk…"

Kratos doesn't reply and we continue to walk in silence until 2 more evil bunnies appear.

"Kratos kill the evil bunnies." I ordered and darted behind a bush. After he kills them, I came out from behind the bush. "Well that was fun! Now onward to Iselia!" Before I took two steps toward Iselia, he grabbed my wrist. "Huh? Now what Kratty?"

"Stop calling me that."

"No can do! I like to call you that! Anyway it's just a nickname." I smirked evilly. "Unless, you want me to call you Daddy."

He flinched at that and changed the subject. "Can you fight?"

"Well ummm not really… I took archery at camp but I've never used this bow or killed anything."

"Do you know any spells?"

"No… I never really tried any."

"We'll rest here for the night."

"Wha? I thought we were almost to Iselia. Why not just rest there?" I asked, confused.

"If you are to be of any use, you will need to learn how to defend yourself. We will rest here for the night and I'll teach you some spells and self-defense in the morning."

"Well… okay then, your call."

He started to gather wood for a fire and I just curled up and went to sleep.

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"Wake up Kira."

"Nooooo. Go away evil bunnies before I have Kratty kill you."

"…"

"OUCH! That really hurt ya jerk…" I muttered the last part as I looked up at the man who just KICKED ME because I wouldn't wake up. He's so evil.

He smirked in response and tossed me my bow. I never really got a chance to look at it before but I now see that it is light blue with sapphires embedded in it. The bowstring looks strange. It seems like energy is pulsating through it.

"Follow me." Kratos said and leads me to a forested area with targets etched into the trees. "Now hit the targets."

I nodded and pulled back the bowstring. I stared at the arrow that happens to magically appear. It was first a dark blue then it turned into a solid blue-tinted arrow. I aimed at the target, fired… and hit a rock… three feet away. "I guess I shoulda mentioned that I only went to camp once…" I said with a sweat drop. I turned around to face Kratos who has a hand covering his face. I swear he just muttered 'why me?'

"Try it again." He said with a sigh.

I did and this time I hit the tree next to it. I tried it a third time and hit the tree itself. "Sweet. I hit the tree!"

"But you didn't hit the target…"

"…Killjoy… At least I'm getting better. Kuro did say that I was a natural healer. He didn't say anything about archery."

"Then let's try some healing spells. First, you focus on the mana within and around you. Then you say the spell and cast it. It's simple enough, just remember to concentrate."

"Kay then." I replied and I tried to focus on the mana. Ummm mana… it should feel like energy so if I concentrate…

"What spell am I supposed to use?" I asked, turning to look at him.

"It differs from each person what spells and techniques they can learn. The most basic healing spell is First Aid, so try casting that."

"Okay!" So feel mana, check. Now to say the spell, "First Aid!" I yelled and I look at Kratos who turned a faint green for a split second and just as quickly, it vanished. "Sweet I did it!"

"I do admit that I didn't expect you to get it on your first try, but do you realize how long it took you to cast it?"

"Ummm 15 seconds?" I said not really grasping what he meant.

"10 minutes. Try it again and do it faster. At this rate, your healing will be as useless as your archery."

Did he just call me useless? That's it. Kratos or not you do not go around calling me useless, I think as I take my bow and fire arrows at him. "Arrow of Light!" I shouted as I shot a huge yellow arrow at Kratos. He dodged by stepping behind a tree.

"Well it seems rage improves your aim exceptionally. But next time try to remember who your allies are."

"What do you mean ally? Weren't you just trying to kill me yesterday?"

He sighed, "Did I not also save your life yesterday?"

I sweat dropped. "Well yeah, but how do I know you won't kill me in my sleep."

He smirked. "Enough talk. Try First Aid again."

"But I like to go off-topic…" I muttered and casted First Aid again.

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"Can I… stop now?" I panted as I cast First Aid for the 30th time that day. Kratos is not too kind when it comes to training. I've cast Arrow of Light at least 20 times and most of my arrows hit the targets, but one in this whole day has hit the bulls-eye. I really suck at this.

"It seems that it would be best if we called it a day. Now you can remotely hit your target's and you truly are a natural at healing."

It's true I have gotten better at healing. It only takes me a few second to cast First Aid instead of 10 minutes. I bet I can even cast it faster than Kratos. Too bad I feel like I'm going to faint now. He got me up at dawn and now it's dusk and I only had one apple all day since dear sweet Kratty didn't bring food. Isn't he supposed to be the calm collected one who's always prepared? Well he's not when it comes to supplies. We brought nothing but our weapons and 10,000 Gald and can we go into Iselia to get supplies? Nope. It would be too suspicious. At least I found an apple tree though.

"Hey Kratos," I called from in the tree, "Do you want some apples too? You haven't eaten since we left Derris-Kharlan."

"No. I'm fine, I don't ne-"grrrrrrrrrr. He stopped talking and a light blush appears on his face as his stomach growls.

That did it. I fell out of the tree laughing my head off. He really is adorable when he blushes. As I'm on the ground laughing, tears are streaming down my face and I try to speak, "You…hahaha the mighty Kratos hahaha." I failed miserably at talking and gave up. A couple minutes later I'm calm enough to speak, "I'm sorry," I started, on the edge of breaking into laughter again, "I just could never see the mighty Kratos denying the fact that he forgot to bring food."

He grabbed an apple off the tree and walked away. I couldn't help but have another laughing fit.

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It's night and we just set up camp. We are officially 20 minutes away from Iselia and Colette will receive the oracle tomorrow. Kratos has started a fire and is now telling me my background story. What town I came from and how long we've known each other and all of that good stuff. I don't really know what else he's saying because I've zoned out and started thinking about how I'll never get to play Twilight Princess. I sighed.

"Are you listening?" Kratos asked, irritated.

I sighed again.

"Kira."

"…"

"Pay attention!" He snapped.

"Huh? Wow Kratos, you've never seemed like the type to snap."

"I've never had to baby-sit someone like you."

"Hey… that's just mean."

"I'm not exactly a nice person." He said with a far away look in his visible eye. Oops. Note to self: Don't call Kratos mean unless you want to bring up some of his bad memories.

"So what were you saying?" I chirped happily, hoping to bring him back from whatever memory he was thinking of.

He turned his attention back to me. "The story is that I'm a traveling mercenary who happened to find you, an orphan, and take you under my wing."

"Awwww. That's so sweet."

"We should change the story."

"No you shouldn't." I replied, maybe a little too quickly. I liked the story. It gave me a good reason to harass Kratos on this journey, and I do love to mess with his mind. "Think about it. Would you rather trust the Chosen with a cold mercenary who comes out of the blue and offers to protect her, or would you trust her protection with a mercenary who is kind enough to take in an orphan?"

"Her?" He echoed. Damn him. I never told him all that I know and now he's going to ask me about his son. Why can't he be as dumb as Lloyd sometimes?

"Yeah. Isn't the Chosen a she?" I replied sheepishly.

"You're a horrible liar."

I rolled my eyes. "And your ability to pick out every little detail in my speech is annoying."

"How do you know the Chosen is a girl?"

"Well… you see… your son happens to be close friends with the Chosen."

"…"

"Yeah. Your son's name is Lloyd and a dwarf named Dirk raised him. His friends are Genis and Colette, the Chosen. He lives in a house right outside of Iselia."

"And you know all of this from a game?"

"Yeah… I haven't really played it in a while but I do remember parts."

"You should get some sleep."

"Do you like to change the subject?"

"It's almost midnight and I will wake you up at dawn."

"Fine then, goodnight Kratty."

"…"

With that conversation over, I curled up next to the fire. "Kratos, when we get to Iselia we are getting blankets."

He said nothing in response and I drifted off to sleep.

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"Wake up Kira." Kratos said while he shook me. "Kira wake up."

"Nooooo all the pink monkeys must die…"

"I'm warning you."

"I do not negotiate with monkeys."

"…"

"OUCH DAMMIT! Stop kicking me!" I yelled when I'm woken up again by a kick in the side. "You are truly evil," I stated as I glared at the smirking mercenary. I swear he enjoys it too much.

"You wouldn't wake up. It's time to head to Iselia."

"Finally… I was getting tired of eating nothing but apples."

"You only had to eat apples for a day."

"A whole day? No wonder I'm tired of it!" I said and I skipped happily past Kratos, towards Iselia.

"…"

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Okay that was Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 has another ingenious name, Chapter 3 Iselia.

My God I'm talented. I make up great chapter names. Anyway reviewing is nice and great and it will make the story better if you do it. Seriously, I will take into consideration whatever you write.

As far as updating goes I already have a lot written but I have to proofread and come up with names for chapters… so I'll probably update fast for a while.


	3. Iselia

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Tales of Symphonia. If I did, Kratos would not be allowed to live on Derris Kharlan at the end. Am I the only one who thinks Kratos will go mentally insane and end up killing himself? Don't kill yourself Kratos! You're too good to die…

Thank you for the reviews! emi the cookie monster you rule for reviewing and TheMoonPirate rocks my socks!

I know I said I'd be updating fast but I'm moving soon and haven't had any time to myself between packing and keeping my grades up… And the fact that proofreading is really boring. Anyway here's chapter 3.

**Chapter 3 Iselia**

When we reached Iselia, I went directly to the shop with Kratos right behind me.

"Hello miss, what can I get for you?" The shopkeeper asked.

"Well, um-"

Kratos cut me off and said, "We need 6 apple gels, 6 orange gels, 8 life bottles, some food, and a bag."

"…Jerk." I muttered as he paid for everything and walked out of the store, not even caring if I followed him or not.

As soon as I walked out the door, he said "Catch." and tossed me the bag he just bought. I looked inside and half the things he bought were inside, along with 5,000 Gald.

"Thanks, umm… why are you giving me this?"

He scoffed, "I can't have you dying on me." Then he started walking towards the temple.

Even when he's being nice he can find a way to make it backfire. I thought as I followed him. After we walked for a good while we came across 2 wolves and another evil bunny. They are forever dubbed evil bunnies. Kratos went after the wolves while I went after the bunny. I missed the first six times but after that I hit him right between the eyes. A small trickle of blood comes out of his skull. Nice. After the evil bunny dies, I turned to help Kratos with the wolves. One's already dead and as I tried to hit the other, I accidentally hit Kratos in the shoulder.

"Kira…" He started in an annoyed tone as he pulled out the arrow. I 'eeped' and quickly casted First Aid. After First Aid was cast, I learned a new spell called 'Clarity.' It raised Kratos' accuracy and he quickly killed the wolf. He then turned to glare at me. I 'eeped' again and started to slink away. He grabbed my wrist and turned me around.

"If you can't aim properly, then don't try to hit monsters right next to your teammates." He then started walking to the temple again.

Well my heart stopped. I thought for sure he was going to maim me, I thought as I clutched my heart. I looked over at the dead wolves and noticed that they were rapidly decomposing right before my eyes… that's somewhat disturbing. Wait? Why isn't my heart beating? I remember now… demons don't have heartbeats. Am I ever going to return home? Even if I do, there's nowhere I can go… what will I do after this journey is over? I let realization sink in as I follow Kratos to the temple. After this journey is over, I have nowhere to go. If I die no one will miss me. It's not like those thoughts you get when you are depressed and think everyone's life will be better if you just die, people will cry at your funeral even then, no matter what you think. If I die now, no one will care. Kratos will probably rejoice. Right now, my existence is truly _pointless_. Realization sucks.

I continued to think about what I would do when this journey is over when we reached the temple. The temple looked almost exactly like it did in the game, except it's real. I mean it looked real. The design is the same but you could actually see the stone texture in the steps. The same went for Kratos and the monsters. You could actually see the individual hairs on the wolf and if you looked hard enough, you could see the whiskers on the evil bunnies.

"I hear swords clashing up ahead." I told Kratos as I raced up the stairs. He's a lot faster than me and easily reached the top first. By the time I get up there, they were all fighting Vidarr and it looked like Kratos didn't feel the need to heal anyone. He probably assumed I'd do it. He can be a jerk at times. It's not like I'm the only one who knows First Aid. I thought as I started to heal Colette, Lloyd, and Genis. They quickly jumped back into the battle (except Genis who stayed back to cast spells) and I casted Clarity on Lloyd because most of the time he misses Vidarr completely. Kratos, as usual, didn't need much, if any, help.

After the battle Botta (who is still referred to as ????) retreated and everyone gawked over how great Kratos is.

Kratos ignored the praise and said, "Is everyone all right? Hmm… no one seems to be hurt."

"Yeah, no thanks to you." I muttered. I mean yes, they all would've died if he didn't help fight but the jerk didn't heal anyone… I think he likes to play healer even less than I do.

"Who are you guys?" Lloyd asked as he looks at Kratos and me.

Kratos ignored the question. I continued to sulk about how I have to be a healer and didn't feel like answering.

"How can I ever thank you for saving the Chosen." Phaidra said.

"So this girl is the next Chosen." Kratos stated. Yes, Kratos she is… and the slow one over there is your son. I thought as I started to snicker. Everyone turned and looked at me like I was from another planet… they're not too far off.

Kratos sighed. "Ignore her."

"I have to go accept the oracle!" Colette chirped, "Grandmother, I'm going to undergo the trial now."

Does everyone have to listen to Kratos? I mentally sighed. They really didn't have to ignore me…

"What trial." Lloyd asked.

"The monsters I assume, an evil presence radiates from this chapel." Kratos answered. This is where I tuned them out because they were following the exact lines from the game. I let my mind wander back to the dream I had earlier before Kratos woke me up… by kicking me in the side… He truly is evil.

"Kira."

"Huh? Yeah?" I replied dumbly as I snapped back into reality.

"Were you paying attention?"

"Maybe…" I said with shifty-eyes.

"You are going to be the death of me."

"Hey, my teacher used to say that a lot!"

"…"

Kratos walked into the temple followed by Colette, Lloyd, and Genis. I shrugged and followed them in. The temple is bigger than in the game. It seemed like a waste to only allow the Chosen in here.

"Lloyd… are your sword techniques self-taught." Kratos asked.

"Yeah, that's right."

"…" Kratos gave Lloyd the training manual, and said, "If you are going to use a sword, then at least learn the basics. You want to protect the Chosen, don't you?" He then turned and walked away.

I chased after him while Lloyd muttered something like 'you think you know so much…'

"You could have been nicer, I mean, he is your son."

"Do not tell him or anyone else that."

"Fine Kratty, I won't… if you be nicer to him."

"You won't tell a soul if you value your life." He replied with one hand on his sword.

"Eep." I squeaked, and held up my hands in surrender, "Ummm… I am weak please don't kill me?" I said, uncertainly and ran toward the newest members of our little group. I swore he was chuckling… the jerk.

"You don't get along well with your father, do you?" Colette asked.

"Huh? My father? Who told you that?" I said, completely oblivious to the fact that Kratos is who she was talking about.

"Well isn't Kratos your father? He told us that you were his daughter before we came in." Genis stated in a 'know-it-all tone'. If he keeps using that tone, this journey will get annoying and I may accidentally claw off his face with my new claws…

"He did? That's not like him… well he is my father in every way but blood."

"How can you stand that guy?" Lloyd asked in astonishment. "If I were related to a guy like that, I don't know what I'd do." Shit Lloyd… angels have excellent hearing. I hope Kratos doesn't get that depressed far away look again. No! I'm not going to deal with a mopey Kratos. A regular one's bad enough.

"He's not that bad. You just have to get to know him." I said, in a slightly offended tone.

"Sorry. I didn't mean anything by that."

"It's alright. I call him a jerk at least once a day so it's no big deal." Okay Kira, don't overdo defending Kratos… you don't want it to seem like you actually care about him. Well I do care about him since he saved my life more than once, and he's my favorite tales character but I really don't want them to know that.

We continue through the chapel/temple and the rest of the group figured out we needed the sorcerer's ring to make it to the top floor. We started down a hall and took on 3 spiders and a ghost. Everyone but Genis and me started to charge and take out the monsters. Kratos took on one spider, and both Lloyd, and Colette took on the second one. Genis went for the ghost and I worked on healing everyone. I forgot about the last spider and only noticed it once it bite me.

"Ouch…" I muttered as I bite my lip, trying my best to hold in a scream. I am deathly afraid of spiders and my fear took over me. I started to beat the spider over the head with my bow, ran over to the opposite side of the room, and shot arrows at it like crazy.

"Rapid Shot!" I shouted as I learned a new technique that lets me shoot a barrage of 10 arrows all at once. I continued shooting until someone grabbed my shoulder. I flipped them over my shoulder and pointed my bow at them, an arrow ready to be fired

"Calm down." Kratos said and I realized he was the one I flipped. How does he land on his feet after being flipped? He should be a cat demon.

"Sorry about that Kratos… I'm kinda deathly afraid of spiders." Wow. Demon strength rules! I can flip Kratos. I wonder what else I can do…

He sighed and casts First Aid on my arm where the spider bit me. I didn't notice that I was losing a lot of blood from the wound. His eyes widened slightly when the wound didn't react to the spell. He tried again. It just wouldn't heal. I tried to cast First Aid on myself and it didn't work either.

"Well, I guess I can't be healed using spells." I murmured, looking at my arm. "Why do you think that is?"

Kratos didn't answer at first and handed me an apple gel. I drank the apple gel and looked at my arm, it still didn't heal.

"Why won't anything work?"

"I don't know. It could be because you're a demon." He whispered as he bandaged my arm.

"What are you two whispering about?" Lloyd asked as he ran up to us. "Hey, why don't you just heal your arm using First Aid?"

"Spells won't work on me… I'm special that way." I muttered, lost in thought. What am I going to do if I get a serious injury? I'm gonna die here… well, at least I know death doesn't hurt that much… Oh God I fail at being optimistic.

"Why don't you just use an apple gel then?" He asked again with a confused look on his face.

I didn't really hear him because I was lost in my thoughts but thankfully, Kratos answered for me. "They don't work on her either."

"Wow Kira, if I was scared of spiders I'd be screaming when it bite me!" Colette exclaimed.

Thank you for changing the subject Colette! "Well I uhh don't really like to scream that's all…" I said with a slight blush at the praise.

"Enough talk. Let's move on." Kratos stated. He really can stop any conversation now can't he? Well I'm not going to be the one to complain this time.

We took the stairs that led down to the area where the Golem is. I saw the Golem first and started shooting at it. Kratos noticed and started to attack it and soon everyone else joined in. After we take out the Golem, Colette tripped over… God knows what and dropped the Golem block down to create a path to the sorcerer's ring.

"I get it."

"I see."

"It's kinda obvious..."

Is said all at once by Genis, Kratos, and me. Colette and Lloyd looked at us like we're all nuts. Well, they're right about me at least.

"You get what?" Lloyd asked dumbly when another Golem appears right behind him.

"Lloyd, look out! Rapid Shot!" I yelled as I shot at the Golem before it could crush him.

He turned around and started attacking the Golem and soon it turned into another block.

Kratos pulled me aside afterwards and said, "I told you not to use your arrows around other people. You're going to kill you ally."

"But he was gonna be killed by that Golem!"

"He would be fine. One of your arrows can kill him easier than the Golem."

"Bu-"

He walked down the staircase towards the sorcerer's ring. Leaving me in mid-sentence, gaping at how much he can be a jerk at times.

"Don't listen to him Kira, you're better than he thinks." Lloyd said when he walked up and put an arm around me.

"You think so?"

"Yeah, don't listen to that jerk."

"Thanks Lloyd." How I wish I could actually believe him. Kratos does have more experience when it comes to battles and fighting. Make that a lot more experience.

Genis and Colette are already following Kratos down the stairs and both Lloyd and I started to follow them. "Ummm can you take your arm off of me now?" I asked as I awkwardly tried to shrug it off. I'm really not that fond of people's arms on me. I blame it on a friend of mine who kept on using my shoulder as an armrest because I was the 'perfect height' for it. It's not my fault that I was short. He was even more of a jerk than Kratos. He wasn't a very bright boy either; his arm was mysteriously filled with cuts every time he tried to use me as an armrest… he never learned.

"Sorry Kira." He said as he quickly took off his arm and ran to catch up with Genis. At least he's kind enough to care about my feelings… now, how to get him closer to Kratos… well, I'll just think about this later because we are now at the Ring of Sorcery! A.K.A. the Sorcerer's Ring.

"Is this the Sorcerer's Ring?" Genis asked. You'd think someone who gets grades as high as him would know that yes, this is the Sorcerer's Ring. It's not like all rings glow and float on a pedestal.

"No Genis, it's a puppy." I said sarcastically. He glared at me.

"A puppy! Where?" Colette asked while looking around frantically. That's it. I couldn't take it anymore. I burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Lloyd asked.

I tried to control my laughter and answer him but Kratos answered instead. "Ignore her. She has a weird sense of humor."

"Better than having no humor…" I muttered under my breath. "Anyway, can I try it first?"

"No."

"C'mon Kratty why not?"

"…"

"Kratty?" Lloyd, Genis, and Colette echoed.

"Yeah, I call him Kratty sometimes…" I suddenly became serious and looked at them evilly, "What of it?" No one will annoy him by calling him Kratty but me. I can't let him kill them out of annoyance. It doesn't really matter about me and I know when to stop. One can only take so much abuse, and oh how I love to be the one causing the abuse!

"Ummm nothing. Anyway let me try it first!" Lloyd said, slightly intimidated by my evil look.

"Hey wait a minute. I asked first."

"And I said no." Kratos replied as he handed the ring to Lloyd. He then walked right beside me and said under his breath, "Now do you regret your plan of having me play your father."

"Nope. There are too many benefits of having you play 'dad.'" I whispered, smirking evilly, "You better watch your back. I'll have my revenge." I thought of all the chaos I could do while he plays my father. So many tricks I could play without being killed, unless he wanted it to look suspicious. "Muahahahaha" I laughed maniacally. Everyone turned around and looked at me funny. "Ummm… did I laugh out loud just now?"

"Ummm Kira, why were you laughing just now?" Colette asked innocently.

"Somehow I think it has to do with me." Kratos sighed.

You bet Kratos! I wonder if I can get Lloyd to help me. He seems like the type to enjoy playing tricks. I'm now a fox demon after all… playing tricks is in my nature.

We returned to the door where it is sealed and Lloyd used the Sorcerer's Ring to open it.

"Is this all the Sorcerer's Ring does?" Lloyd asked.

"You get bored so easily." Genis stated.

"That's why I should have it!" I yelled.

"No." Kratos replied sternly.

"And why can't I? You really haven't given a good reason."

"Because you're a pyromaniac."

I stopped and looked at him with a shocked expression on my face, "Who told you that?"

"The look in your eyes when you stare at the campfire or when Genis and I cast Fireball is reason enough to keep you away from anything that creates fire."

"Your ability to read me is very annoying…" I sighed and then added, "So you're never going to let me touch the ring. Are you?"

"…"

"Fine be that way… and I'm only slightly a pyromaniac… slightly."

"Wait, how can you tell if he means yes or no? All he did was go '…'" Lloyd asked in confusion.

"Believe me Lloyd, it means 'if you touch the ring, you will regret it.'"

"Wow. You guys really have known each other for 12 years." Colette said.

"Really? It's 12 years? I asked looking at Kratos. He sighed and walked into the warp pad.

"I guess we better follow Mr. Anti-social." I said as I raced after him, with everyone following behind.

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The alter and the Cruxis Crystal looked so much more realistic… I love it! The crystal is such a pretty red color. Lloyd asked if it's the Cruxis Crystal and Colette said she was born with that in her hand. I wonder how the angels pulled that off. Then my favorite annoying angel that acts like he's superior to everyone (Even more so than Kratos) appears. I do not like his whole 'I am better then you' persona. At least we get to kill him later.

"Wh…What is that?" Lloyd asked stupidly. C'mon Lloyd, he has wings. Didn't you learn anything in school?

"An angel, I would assume." Kratos answered.

"I am Remiel, …" Blah Blah Blah. This is when I tuned out the annoying conversation before I get the overwhelming urge to attack Remiel… too late. But I must fight the urge to kill. Some time after I started the internal battle to spare Remiel's life (Or rather, not attack and have Remiel whoop my ass) he stopped talking and left. Since I wasn't paying attention, Kratos grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the warp panel… I am perfectly able to walk by myself…

"We're going on ahead." He said when we warped back with Colette.

"You know, you don't have to drag me…" I muttered as he started to pull me out of the temple.

"If you would stop daydreaming and pay attention, I wouldn't have to."

"It's called 'zoning out' and that is my defense mechanism against boredom."

"I had no idea that you knew such a complex word.'"

"That's insulting." I turned to look at Colette who started giggling behind us. "What's so funny?"

"The way you two bicker… it's so cute." I looked at Kratos and then at her like she's insane. "Well, it is sweet no matter what you think."

"I think I'm gonna hurl!" I blurted out, ran behind some bushes, and make fake gagging sounds. Colette laughed and Kratos put a hand over his face. I think I really will be the death of him… fun!

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Because I know someone's going to bring it up. This is not going to be a Lloyd/OC fic. Putting an arm around someone is a FRIENDLY gesture. If it wasn't then… wow. I can't look at a lot of people the same way. Lloyd has that friendly personality and it did give him a chance to insult Kratos.

Reviewing is good! Reviewing is great! Ummm… Reviewing is... I can't come up with anymore… T.T

Chapter 4 is next and it's called A Ranch, a Dirk, and a Few Insults.


	4. A Ranch, a Dirk, and a Few Insults

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Tales of Symphonia. If I did, Zelos would not make that creepy face whenever he does something evil.

**Chapter 4: A Ranch, a Dirk, and a Few Insults.**

After we left the temple, we went to Colette's house. Her house is actually a lot bigger when compared to the game. She has a bathroom, a kitchen and 4 bedrooms. It was a nice house for Iselia. It was probably because Colette's the Chosen, though. We were sitting at the table talking about Colette and I zoned out while Kratos, Frank, Phaidra, and the Mayor were preparing for the Regeneration Journey. I started to mentally hum, Nothing to Lose by Billy Talent. It's not the greatest song but it was stuck in my head ever since we talked to Remiel. Mainly because of the line 'need more friends with wings, all the angels I know put concrete in my veins.' Actually, I only knew that one line. I snapped back to reality when Lloyd and Genis came in… without knocking. Well they were taught manners. Raine did such a fantastic job in teaching them manners!

"Then, we shall entrust the protection of the Chosen to Kratos, Kira, and Raine." The Mayor said right after they came in.

"I have no objections." Kratos replied.

"Thank you so much for your help earlier!" Colette said once she realized Genis and Lloyd came into the house… she would have noticed earlier if they learned to knock…

"Ohh, you're back! Thank you for your assistance earlier! Please accept this small thanks." Phaidra exclaimed to Lloyd as she handed him the Collector's Book. Why did she act so surprised when they came in? Did she think they died? She's evil!

"Thank you." Genis replied. Wait, didn't Lloyd get the book? Why didn't I get anything? She is evil! Even though she does pay Kratos… and he did give me some money… okay so maybe she isn't that bad but thinking they were dead is cruel.

"Thanks Phaidra." Lloyd said. "Say, were you talking about the world regeneration journey just now?"

"Yes." Phaidra answered.

"Wow! I want to go, too! I wanna see Colette regenerate the world!" He exclaimed.

"If Raine is going, I want to go, too." Genis stated. Wow, that's a childish excuse… I wouldn't even use that one…

"No. You'll get in the way." Kratos stated in his superior tone.

"Wh…what?!" Lloyd asked, surprised.

Kratos made his son hate him even more when he stood up dramatically, while pushing the chair back, and continued, "The battles at the chapel were nothing compared to the journey that awaits us. Children need to stay home." He said the world 'children' with disgust.

"Kratos is absolutely right." The mayor agreed.

"But what about Kira?" Lloyd asked, his tone laced with anger. No Lloyd, please don't drag me into this…

Kratos came to the rescue and answered for me. "She is my responsibility. I am her guardian… guarding her and the Chosen is bad enough."

"Hey! I'm not that bad…" I said, offended. Nice rescue Kratos… am I really that much of a burden? I know I'm not the greatest fighter but I can still heal. Thank you Kratos for making me feel like shit. What was even worse is that he ignored what I just said.

"Now then, we still have things to discuss. You two should go on home." The mayor said, also ignoring me.

Lloyd and Genis left and Colette followed them. I glared at Kratos and left right after Colette. If I'm such a burden then I'll stay as far away from him as possible. Colette tripped and I caught her arm so she wouldn't fall.

"Thanks," she said with a smile, and turned to talk to Genis and Lloyd, "I'm sorry."

"It's not like it's your fault." Lloyd replied.

"Then I'm sorry… for what Kratos said." I said and walked past them to explore the town. I walked past the school and ended up by Genis' house. I sat down and started to pet the dog that was always there. Ah, how I love animals. They don't judge you on appearance or worth… they only judge you on how you treat them… not to mention they're adorable! I see animals as little kids permanently set in the toddler age. Toddlers are so adorable! For some reason I don't find babies cute until they at least reach the age of one. I lost track of how long I was sitting there because the next thing I knew, Genis and Lloyd came by.

"Hey Kira. Do you like dogs?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah, I like a lot of animals." I answered while standing up. "What are you guys up to?"

"Well I live here… and you're blocking the doorway." Genis stated in an annoyed tone. He really doesn't like me… oh well I never really liked him.

"Oh sorry…" I replied and moved out of the way.

"Hey, are you okay?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah! I'm fine."

"Kratos is right... You really are a bad liar.

"How can everyone tell when I'm lying?"

"Your eyes show all your emotions."

Even turning into a demon didn't change that… I sighed and started to pet the dog again as Genis went into his house.

"Hey, if your not doing anything why not come with Genis and me to my house? You can meet my dad, Dirk, and I have a dog too."

Hmmm. Should I go with Lloyd? Maybe I should tell Kratos where I am though… oh what does he care? After all… I'm just another burden to him. "Sure! I'll go with you."

Genis came out of his house and Lloyd told him that I'm coming with them. He gave me a face and I started to regret saying that I would go with them. We came to the village entrance where the guards asked Lloyd to get rid of Noishe. That's so mean. Noishe wouldn't hurt a fly.

"Kira meet Noishe. Noishe, Kira." Lloyd said with a smile.

I smiled back and go to Noishe. "Hey Noishe. It's nice to meet you." I got on my knees and stuck out my hand palm up to show him I wouldn't hurt him. It worked on most animals and Noishe just happens to be a really smart animal. He sniffed my hand and let me pet him. "Awww. You rock Noishe." I said and hugged the protozoan.

"Wow. Noishe usually hates strangers." Lloyd said, shocked.

I looked Noishe in the eye and asked, "Why is that?"

"I don't really know."

"Ummm. I wasn't asking you Lloyd… I was talking to Noishe."

Noishe whined in response while Genis and I laughed. Lloyd blushed and walked out of the village with Genis following right behind him. I stayed near the back of my new little group with Noishe.

As soon as we reached the Iselia Forest Noishe started to whine and ran off.

"What's with him?"

"Noishe never did like monsters." Lloyd answered.

"So he doesn't like strangers and monsters… Noishe's really picky!" I said with a small smile.

"You're still upset about what Kratos said, aren't you?" Genis asked.

"Nn-No. What makes you say that?"

"Lloyd was right when he said your eyes give away all your emotions."

"I just don't like being called a burden, that's all." I said with a sigh.

"Hey don't worry about it!" Lloyd said as he come up and put an arm around me in a friendly way. "We all hate that jerk here!"

I shrugged him off and said, "Don't talk about Kratos like that… he's really not that bad…" Why do I keep defending him? Oh yeah I'm trying to get him and Lloyd closer… Argh! Why does Kratos have to make everything so hard?! "Can we please just drop the whole Kratos subject?"

"Fine whatever. Let's head to my house anyway." Lloyd said as he took the lead.

Not 5 minutes after the conversation, we get into a fight against 2 Giant Bees. Genis used Fireball and Stone Blast on them while I used Clarity and First Aid on Lloyd.

"Kira, why didn't you fight any of the bees?" Genis asked after the battle.

"Well, I didn't want to accidentally hit Lloyd… I'm not very good at aiming."

"Hey don't worry about it! You won't hit me, and even if you do, you can just heal me."

"Fine, but it's you're funeral." I replied with a shrug.

The next battle we got in was against a Minicold and 2 Slimes. Genis attacked the first Slime while Lloyd went after the other and I focused on killing the Minicold. After I used Rapid Shot a couple times, the Minicold died. I used Clarity on Lloyd and myself and then I attacked the Slime Lloyd was currently killing. By the time we killed it, Genis had already killed the other Slime.

"See I told ya Kira! You didn't hit me!"

"That's because I cast Clarity on myself Lloyd…"

"If you do that, then you don't have to worry about hitting anyone!"

"You're right… Why didn't I think of that sooner?" Wow. I feel really dumb.

We stopped talking when Genis said that his stop was at the Human Ranch. Lloyd was surprised that he went there at all and we both agreed that Genis shouldn't go alone. When we got there we met Marble and Lloyd noticed her Exsphere didn't have a Key Crest. After he explained everything about the Key Crest, a Desian noticed Marble's wasn't working. We all make a run for it so we're not seen by the Desians, but they took Marble to the back.

"Oh no, they're taking her to the back!" Lloyd whispered loudly.

"Let's get to higher ground to see what we can do." Genis suggested.

We all climb the cliff next to the Ranch. When we get to the top we see Marble being whipped and Lloyd suggested his plan as a distraction. We all quickly agreed that Lloyd and I would run as the distraction, while Genis casts Fireball. I knew the plan was going to fail but I shouldn't change the storyline. It went well until Genis tripped. Lloyd and I ran back and quickly killed the Desians that would have seen him. Reinforcements were coming so Lloyd quickly jumped off the cliff. I stood still for a few seconds after and in my fear, suddenly changed into a small fox and ran to the path in front of the ranch. Genis already went to where Lloyd jumped down so I sat on the path and tried to calm down.

Think Kira, think! How are you going to change back into your other form? I calmed down a little and imagined myself in my other form. I changed back and thanked whatever God there is that when I change forms, I still have my clothes on. Fifteen minutes later, Lloyd came running up to me.

"Kira! You made it!"

"Yeah. I guess I did… Where's Genis?!" I asked as I frantically searched for any sign of him.

"He's fine. He went back home to Iselia."

"Oh crud… I should've gone back with him…" Crud. I forgot he went back to Iselia after the ranch.

"Hey don't worry about it. He'll tell Kratos where you are."

"You're right…"

"Yeah, so now let's head back to my place. You can meet Dirk and play with Noishe until Kratos comes by."

"Okay."

We headed over to Dirk's place and Noishe met up with us when we were almost there.

"Wow… it's so green…"

"Heh, you like it."

"Yeah, I used to live in the country… but it was all fields, we didn't have trees like this."

He looked surprised. "Really? Were you living with Kratos?"

"No. This was before I met him."

"Come inside so you can meet my Dad." He walked to the door and gestured for me to follow him inside.

I followed Lloyd and saw Dirk standing over by the forge. Everything looks almost exactly like the game… even the layout.

"Welcome back." Dirk said. "And who is this?"

I took a step toward him. "Hi. I'm Kira, I'm just visiting Iselia for a day or two."

"Yeah, she's going on the regeneration journey with Colette."

"Are you going too?" Dirk asked.

"No… her dad won't let me."

"I said I was sorry about him…" I said quietly.

The room is filled with an awkward silence for about 5 seconds… I despise awkward silences so I decided to break it. "Ummm Dirk can I ask you a favor?" I might as well ask him about the Key Crest. The last thing I want is for their argument to happen while I'm still here.

"Yeah. What is it."

"Is there anyway you can make me a Key Crest?"

"Why would ya need one of those?"

"A friend of mine back in Triet escaped from a ranch a couple years back and Lloyd just told me how dangerous it is to have an Exsphere without a Key Crest so I was wondering…"

"Of course I'll help you out. Any friend of Lloyd's is a friend of mine." He said with a big smile.

"Thank you." I replied smiling back politely.

"C'mon Kira, let's go play with Noishe." Lloyd said as he left the house with me following close behind. As soon as we came to Noishe's pen Lloyd whispered, "Thanks for asking about the Key Crest. I couldn't think of an excuse for him to make one." Of course you couldn't Lloyd… you would have gotten into a huge argument instead.

After being outside with Noishe for about ten minutes Raine, Genis, Colette, and Kratos came along. I didn't notice they were there until an extremely pissed voice said, "Kira, come over here. Now." I'll give you three guesses who said that. If you can't guess with three tries, congratulations, you're an idiot. I mean only four people showed up.

"Ummm hey Kratos… How's it going?" I replied as innocently as possible.

He grabbed my arm and dragged me out of everyone else's view. Does he just love to drag me?

"What did you think you were doing just leaving like that?" He asked in irritation.

"I was thinking that I didn't need to be part of the conversation… so I left."

He sighed in annoyance. "I mean why did you leave Iselia?"

"Lloyd asked if I wanted to see his dog. So I…"

"If this plan of yours is going to work, you need to tell me where you are." Okay I really don't care how mad or annoyed he is. He thinks he can insult me and then act like nothing happened?! I think not!

"What does it matter? If I die you still have the perfect cover-up. You'll just be relieved of one less burden." I snarled, venom dripping from each word.

"Is that why you left? I insult you once and you decide to leave? Pathetic."

"And what about you! You talk down to everyone around you just so you can feel superior. Tell me Kratos; does it make you feel better? Does it make you feel stronger? More in control? Just because you couldn't save Anna, you have to take it out on everyone else around you! **You are the one that is truly pathetic…**" I spat.

Then he did something I never thought Kratos would do. He slapped me across the face. I turned to glare at him until I saw the look on his face. I have never seen Kratos so angry… and it terrified me. So, I did what anyone else in my position would do. I ran. I had no idea how long or far I ran but I soon found myself lost in the Iselia Forest.

What was I thinking? How could I say such cruel things? I insulted him and his family when there was nothing he could do to save them. If I were him, I'd have already slit my throat. Even though it doesn't matter if I'm on good terms with Kratos or not. All that matters is that I help Lloyd get the Eternal Sword so I can get out of this dimension. So why can't I stop shaking? And I'm… crying? Ugh. Disgusting.

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Sorry for the lack of humor but I couldn't find a place for anything funny in this chapter.

So Kratos and Kira aren't exactly getting along… It's to be expected since Kira's personality is very different when compared to Kratos and she doesn't like being called or acting weak.

Reviewing makes my day! No, seriously, it does! Wow… my life's kinda pathetic but nevertheless, if you want to make a random person's day then please review!!

Next chappy is called Bonding and Tricks.


	5. Bonding and Tricks

I thank all you reviewers! TheMoonPirate, JeanneAndHerAlters, Hawkblade, Twilight Angels, Tweenkle, ShadowHunterLoki, and I'm sure that's all the reviewers from Ch3 till now. For those who reviewed more than 1 chapter, you scream awesomeness!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Tales of Symphonia. If I did they'd all be using Dragons instead of Rehairds because Dragons rock like that.

Since Kira is lost in the forest, we'll start with Kratos' point of view. The story wouldn't make much sense if you didn't know what he was doing.

**Chapter 5: Bonding and Tricks**

Back with Kratos (Kratos' POV)

I started to go after Kira, but thought better of it. My job is to protect the Chosen. Not to take care of that demon girl. When I arrived at Dirk's, Lloyd and Colette have already finished talking, and everyone was waiting for Kira and I to return.

"Hey Kratos, where'd Kira go?" Lloyd asked.

"She ran off into the woods."

"You let a child go into the woods alone, at night?" Raine asked, surprised.

"She ran off…" What does it matter to her? She has never met Kira before…

"What did you do to her?" Raine asked.

I raised an eyebrow. She immediately assumes that I would harm Kira. This teacher does not trust me in the least.

"Well?" Raine prodded, "What happened?"

I suppose I must tell her. "I told her not to run off again… lost my temper and …slapped her…" That's not like me… but she should never had said such things! I could have handled the situation better and so could she. Why must she insist on acting like a child?

"WHAT?!?!" Raine asked/yelled.

"Ummm… Raine. You hit us all the time, I don't think you can yell at him." Genis said quietly.

"You two are boys, you're not as sensitive to emotions like Colette and Kira are."

"No wonder she never hits any of the girls." Lloyd muttered.

"So Professor Raine, why don't we go and look for her?" Colette asked, worried.

"Kratos is the parent. He needs to set things right with Kira before we leave on the regeneration journey." Raine replied.

She was terrified when she left… I doubt she'll let me near her. At the very least, Raine has a point. No matter what course of action I choose, I still have to take Kira on the Chosen's journey. Damn her and her plan! If only I said she was a mercenary or someone I could kill without raising suspicion.

"Kratos you need to get your daughter back. I'll take Colette and Genis back to the village." Raine said as she led Genis and Colette back to Iselia.

Back with Kira (Kira's POV)

Get a hold of yourself Kira! You can't be weak and let these emotions control you! I think as I try to still my trembling limbs, and I'm still crying, ugh… disgusting! I'm a fricking demon! And I hate crying so why the hell can't I stop?!?! I disgust me… I think as I punch a rock that's conveniently beside me. Because of the demon strength, it crumbles but thankfully, it still turns my hand bloody. Damn! I want to break my hand to give me a real reason to cry. I gather up my thoughts enough to look around and try to find out where I am. Great, I'm lost. I look around and notice the forest looks the same no matter which way I turn. I might as well give up and try to find my way in the morning.

I go to a tree, climb up it, and settle in for the night, still trying to stop the tears from falling. My God they're annoying.

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"… swer me!"

"Huh?" I mumbled as I jerked awake. I looked around frantically trying to figure out what woke me up.

"Kira! Where are you?! Answer me!" Kratos yelled.

Oh. He finally found me. Man… I still feel awful for what I said. I really need to learn to think before I say anything. Oh well. Now is as good a time as any to apologize. I jump down and walk towards Kratos' voice.

As soon as I got close enough for him to see me I said, "I'm sorry for what I said earlier Kratos… it was… uncalled for."

Kratos looked at me like I was insane. Can't say I blame the guy.

"Ummm… didn't you hear me? I said I was sorry."

"Yes, I heard. It's just that you seem to have matured more in these last few hours than you have since I met you."

"Yeah, well… I shouldn't of said such things… it was mean, even for me." I sternly looked him in the eye and glared. "But if you EVER slap me again, you will regret it."

He smirked in response and started to walk back to Iselia. I followed him and after five minutes of walking, he suddenly stopped, and without turning around he said, "I apologize for hitting you."

Wow. Didn't see that coming I thought, as I stood there, shocked, for about five seconds. He started to walk off again while I shrugged to no one in particular and continued to follow him back to Iselia.

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"Wake up, Kira."

"Must… make… moose… extinct."

"I will kick you again."

"MUAHAHAHAHA!!! THERE'S NOWHERE TO RUN LITTLE MOOSEY! YOU WILL DIE!!!!"

"…"

"OUCHies… Can't you find a nicer way to wake me up?" I mumbled as I was woken up, yet again, by a kick in the side. I mean I was sleeping in a bed this time! After Kratos and I returned to Iselia, we spent the night at Colette's house. I looked over at Kratos and found that he wass staring at me, with a weird expression on his face.

"Do you remember any of your dreams?" He asked as he went to sit on the only chair in the room.

"No." I said suspiciously, "I can never remember any of my dreams."

"Do you like moose?"

"What?!? No way! They are one of the most evil animals on the planet!" I walked over to him and looked him in the eye. "Why do you ask?" I gasped and yelled, "YOU'RE A MOOSE-LOVER!!!!"

"Wha?" He asked in surprise and almost fell off the chair.

"NOOOOO!!!!! It's true! Kratos is a no good dirty MOOSE-LOVER!!!" I screamed and went into fake hysterics. "I've lost him to the moose-side." I whispered as I sunk down onto the floor.

He kicked me in the side again and left the room.

"Ouch…" I muttered. That guy can really kick. I'm gonna have a huge bruise on my side, I thought as I got up and walked down the steps. Kratos was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee talking with Phaidra. Probably about the Chosen's journey. Colette and Frank were also sitting at the table and eating breakfast.

"Sweet! food!" I yelled as I went and grabbed a slice of toast. I grabbed about 4 more before I started to pay attention to my surroundings. I noticed that everyone was looking at me funny. "Ummm. Is anything wrong?" I said in between bites.

"Don't talk with your mouth full…" Kratos muttered.

"It's nothing Kira," Colette said, actually going to answer my question. "It's just that you act like you haven't eaten for a couple days."

"Maybe because I haven't." I replied while tossing a glare at Kratos.

He raised an eyebrow. "Didn't I buy you food yesterday?"

I blushed. "Oh yeah… I forgot to eat it..."

Kratos sighed.

"Okay what about the day before that? Who forgot to bring food so we had to eat apples all day?"

"You act like you starved…"

"I did! You try eating nothing but apples for a day!"

"I did. I was with you."

"…Touché…"

He put a hand on his face and continued to drink his coffee.

"So when are we leaving?" I asked, completely changing the subject.

"We're going as soon as Professor Raine gets here!" Colette chirped in an overly preppy mood. How can someone be so happy in the morning?

As if on cue, Raine knocked on the door. How did I know it was Raine? Because she's the only one who knocks. She didn't wait for anyone to answer the door though, I thought as both she and Genis walked into the room.

"So I guess Kratos found you." Genis stated in an unenthusiastic tone.

I stood up on the chair, pumped my fist into the air, and yelled, "No he didn't! I found him!"

Everyone in the room looked at me like I was insane except for Kratos. He chose to ignore me. Guess he's a fast learner.

"What?" I asked, confused while still standing on the chair.

"It's nothing Kira. It's just that you seem a little hyper." Colette explained.

"I'm hyper? Well the only way to fix that is to drink some coffee." Before I could grab a cup Kratos took the coffeepot away.

"No. This will only make you worse."

I sighed and shook my head. "You know very little my dear, sweet, Kratty."

Everyone in the room looked at me like I was crazy except for Kratos. He raised an eyebrow.

I sweatdropped. Do they have to look at me like that all the time? "Okay I'll explain. I get hyperactive off lack of sleep. The less sleep I get, the more energy I have and it's the exact opposite if I get too much sleep. Coffee or other caffinated beverages make me sleepy so it cancels out my hyperness…" After my explanation I I stole Kratos' cup because he took the coffeepot. There better not be any of Kratos' backwash in here… because that's just… ew.

"That's not possible." Raine stated, in a know-it-all tone, "Caffeine is proven to make you hyper, and not getting enough sleep makes you sleepy."

"Yeah, well, I'm special that way." I said in between sips. I just figured out where Genis got the know-it-all tone… it's still annoying.

Raine started looking at me like I was some sort of a research subject so I sat down next to Kratos… at the opposite end of the table. The look on her face makes me pray that she never finds my ears and tail. How am I supposed to hide them when I'm traveling with her? I don't sleep with my hat on and what if it falls off during a battle? Maybe I can learn to hide them… I did turn into a fox when I was scared and I changed back to this form so maybe I can-

"Kira, it's time to leave." Kratos said and tossed me my bag.

I look inside it to see what I have left, and found that he restocked it. There are 2 apple gels, 6 orange gels, some clothes that look exactly like the ones I'm wearing, (I don't even wanna know how he managed that) and a blanket.

"Sweet! A blanket!" I yelled as I rubbed against the sweet soft fabric of the blanket. I noticed that everyone was, once again, looking at me like I was insane. Except Kratos, he's ignoring me. I turned towards Raine and Colette and said defensively, "My blankey."

They sweat dropped.

I glared at them evilly, "No. I'm serious. Touch the blanket and you die."

They started to shrink away and went out the door. Kratos grabbed the blanket, put it back into my bag, and walked out the door. I went to follow him but at the last second, I remembered that Phaidra and Frank were still in the room.

"Thank you both so much for letting Kratos and me stay the night here." I said as politely as humanly (demonly) possible and even add a polite little bow. They both gave me a weird look and then I walked out of the house, smirking. How I love to mess with people's heads! While Genis, Colette, Raine, Kratos and I were walking towards the town entrance, I was still thinking about how confused Frank and Phaidra were with my behavior changing so quickly in the house. One minute I'm insane, the next hyperactive, then I'm polite. I smiled to myself and finally noticed that Kratos was looking at me oddly.

"Hmmm. What's wrong Kratos?"

"You are an enigma." Wow. That was a blunt statement.

"What made you finally come to that conclusion?" That wasn't the first time I've been called that.

"What you said when you left the Chosen's house."

"How did you?!?" I sighed. "It was angelic hearing, right?" Curse his angelic abilities!

"Tell me, why did you thank them."

I made Kratos confused! That made my day! Confusing someone who is over 4,000 years old can't be that easy… now I have two choices… I could (a) answer him and make his life easier, or (b) I could make him even more confused and laugh at the look on his face… more confused it is! I have been answering all his questions honestly since I met him so he's overdue for some idiotic answer that makes no sense.

"If I didn't then all the pink monkeys would join up with the moosies and hunt us down and KILL US ALL!" I answered while shouting the last part. Then I ran around Kratos 3 times screaming, "KILL KRATOS AND SPARE ME!!!" After I stopped running around him, I returned to his side and continued to walk like nothing happened.

The look on his face was priceless. Oh how I wish I had a camera! He is so adorable when his face is a slight pink with his mouth slightly agape. Very slightly agape though. Still, why don't I have a camera?

"You are a very complex individual." He stated after regaining his composure.

I patted his shoulder that I had to stand up on tiptoes to reach. He's really tall. "Awww. What a nice way to say I'm insane…" I turned to look at the other members of our group… I forgot they were there. Genis was looking at me like I was crazy, Colette is trying to smile at me but failing miserably, and Raine, well Raine is a little different. She was looking at me like I'm insane, which is a perfectly normal reaction, but what was strange about her was that she kept looking from Kratos to me as if she was trying to figure out how he's my supposed 'father figure'. I can't say I blame her. Kratos is calm, cool, and collected while I'm… not. I smiled at them all. When we reached the entrance to Iselia the whole town seemed to be there to wish Colette good luck. I found this to be boring so I sat on a fence and waited for them to stop saying how they'll miss her, and good luck, and blah blah. I snapped back to reality when I saw Genis hug Raine goodbye. Awwww that's so sweet.

When the goodbyes were done it was just Raine, Kratos, Colette, and me off on our way to Triet. I wondered how long it'll take to get there… Let's see… On our way to Iselia we walked at least 6 hours and I think we landed around the halfway point between Iselia and the House of Salvation… since it's now 9:30ish and if we match the time it took with just me and Kratos traveling we'd make it there at around 9:30 p.m. Since we are walking a lot slower now thanks to Raine and Colette, it will probably take us 2 days to get to the House of Salvation andeven then we'll probably make it there at around noon... Great. Just great. That means when we get to House of Salvation we'll have plenty of free time… for torture with Kratos by either interrogation or training… I really hope it's training.

After about an hour of walking, we ran into a hawk, wolf, and evil bunny. Colette went after the hawk, I attacked the evil bunny, and Kratos went after the wolf. Raine stayed on the sidelines healing. I kept on missing the bunny (I shot 5 arrows already) so I decided to cast Clarity on myself. After I casted the spell, I shot the bunny in the neck and it still tried to come after me. I shot the thing in the neck! I used Arrow of Light on it and let's just say it wasn't a very 'clean' attack. The bunny was 2 feet in front of me and the arrow basically made the bunny explode… all over me. I saw that the hawk and wolf are already dead and Colette ran over to me.

"Kira are you all right?" she asked in a worried tone looking me over.

"She looks fine." Kratos stated, "All the blood on her came from the rabbit."

"I am disgusted… I am covered in evil bunny guts… I'm just gonna go in the bushes over there and change…" I said and walked over to said bushes.

While I was changing my clothes, I wondered if now would be a good time to try and hide my ears… I closed my eyes, and concentrated on seeing my ears change into a humans and my tail disappearing. I opened them and looked to find my tail missing and my ears felt like a human's. Sweet no more hat! I thought as I took off the hat. I liked the trench coat so I going to kept it on. When I walked out from behind the bushes, we resumed traveling. Kratos motioned for me to join him in the back of the group. I guess he's going to ask me about my ears…

"What happened to your ears and tail?" He questioned.

"I figured out how to change my form."

"When did you do that?"

"At Iselia's Human Ranch."

"What were you doing there?"

"I was helping a friend. I was almost captured when I suddenly changed into a fox. I think I was so scared that my instincts took over and changed me to the form most fit to flee."

"Fear or not, you cannot let anyone see you change forms. Demons are not exactly welcomed in this world."

"I know that already…"

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Nothing interesting happened for the rest of the day, that is, until we set up camp. I was so amazed at how much stuff could fit in a small little bag at your hip. Raine seemed to magically pull out pots and other cooking utensils, Colette pulled out sleeping bags, and Kratos pulled out a dagger. Wait. A dagger? He walked over to me and handed me the dagger.

"You can't always rely on your arrows when your enemies are at close range. An archer should always carry a dagger just in case."

"Thanks for the tip." Why didn't he give me this before the evil bunny exploded on me?

He acted like I didn't say anything and he pulled out matches to light the fire. Oooooo pretty fire. I went and sit next to fire, staring into the flames. The flames rock!

"Okay! Whose cooking dinner tonight?" Colette said while pulling out random cooking ingredients. I looked to see what ingredients there are and she has cabbage, pork, cheese, mushrooms, onions, and a tomato. Wait a sec. A tomato? Sweet… let's see if the rumors about Kratos' hate for tomatoes is true… and how much he really hates them…

"I'll do it!" I said before anyone else could object. I jumped up and practically ran over to Colette and the food.

"What will you be making?" Kratos asked as he started to go towards the ingredients, but not before I slipped the tomato into my bag. He looked at me quizzically "Why are you so enthusiastic about cooking?"

"Why not be enthusiastic? We are actually eating a meal… that's not apples." I muttered the apple part but with his hearing, it didn't matter. Stop being suspicious! You're too good at figuring things out!

"It was just one day." Kratos sighed.

"It only takes a day to emotionally scar someone for life."

"Please. You are not scarred for life."

"Just take a walk or something so I can cook in peace." I said while trying to push him away from the food. The key word is try. He didn't budge an inch even with demon strength. I guess his natural strength combined with his angelic beats my demon strength by far. He raised an eyebrow and went to sit by the fire.

"Do you want me to help you with the food Kira?" Colette asked.

"Sure! I'm making cabbage rolls so I could use some help." We started to cook the food and right before we called Raine and Kratos over to eat, I started to cut the tomato and put it into Kratos' food.

"Why are you only putting a tomato in those two cabbage rolls?" Colette asked when she noticed me working on Kratos' food.

"Ummm well you see… Kratos really likes tomatoes and I can't stand them so he never gets to have any so I thought no one would mind if I give him the only tomato… at least until we buy some more." I was honestly not lying about my hate for tomatoes. I can't even stand the smell of ketchup…

"You're really nice Kira!"

"Well let's just make sure that Kratos gets this one… and don't tell him it's different or he'll think I poisoned it or something like that."

"Okay. Dinner's ready everyone!" Colette called out to Kratos and Raine after I finished fixing Kratos' food.

My plan was working perfectly when Colette handed Kratos his plate filled with the 'special' cabbage rolls. We began eating and after Kratos took his first bite, his face paled. He calmly stood up and walked out of the campsite and I followed him out of curiosity. As soon as he wass out of sight from the camp, he took off running and darted behind a bush. I heard him puking and I couldn't help but break into laughter. I guess all those stories and rumors about him hating tomatoes were true, but I never thought he hated them this much. In my laughter, I didn't notice that he was done puking and now I had a very pissed Seraph standing in front of me. I cowered for a full two minutes before he walked back to camp without saying a word. I thought for sure he'd kill me… I sat in a daze for about five minutes before I head back to camp. I picked up my plate again and when I took a bite, I noticed that this was not my plate. I looked over at Kratos who was smirking at me. I gtt up to run to the bushes but he grabbed my arm before I even tooone step.

"I asked the Chosen why only my food had tomatoes in it and she told me a very interesting story about how I love them and you despise them." His smirk grew when he forced me to sit down again. "As punishment you will have to eat everything on that plate."

He didn't let me go and watched me gag as I forced down the cabbage rolls filled with tomatoes. Why did Colette have to tell him I hated them? Damn! I wish I could stand them… Kratos is truly evil, I thought as I choked down the last bite. He continued to smirk when he let go and watched me run to the bushes. After I emptied my stomach of the horrid food, I came back to camp with Kratos smirking again when he saw me.

"You are truly evil." I muttered as I grabbed my blanket, curled up into the sleeping bag, and went to sleep.

He smirked again and stated. "Blame your fate."

He WILL pay for this!

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Yay! Kratos and Kira are getting along again… sorta. And there is more funny! Yay for comedy!

Now for the usual little sentence rant about reviewing. REVIEW!!! It gets old really fast, doesn't it?

The next Chappie is called… err sweat drop I honestly forgot and I'm at my sister's house so I can't look it up right now... ehh you'll figure it out eventually.


	6. What do you mean 5 hours long?

Sorry this took so long to update but here is chapter 6!

Thank you to Twilight Angels, NightShadeWolf, ShadowHunterLoki, I.K.A. Valian, Kitty-Kat-Katz, and JeanneAndHerAlters for reviewing chapter 5!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Tales of Symphonia. I only own Kira and every plot change not originally in the story. If you can't tell where the plot is changed then you probably shouldn't't be reading this… YOU SHOULD BE PLAYING THE GAME! So, run, play it, and then come back and read this fic! Just remember to come back and review too!

**Chapter 6: What do you mean five hours long?!? **

"Wakey wakey Kira! It's time to get up!" An overly preppy voice called.

"Go away you annoying preppy monkeys… go do your makeup somewhere else…"

"Allow me Chosen."

"OUCH!!! CURSE YOU KRATOS! THAT ONE REALLY HURT!!!" I yelled as I rubbed my side where he, yet again, kicked me. Extra hard this time might I add. I rolled up my shirt a little to look at my side and saw that it was covered in boot shaped bruises. "Jerk. Can you please find a nicer way to wake me up? I can barely tell my skin apart from my bruises."

"If you learn to-"

"That doesn't't give you the right to kick me!"

"…"

"…Jerk…"

I started to mumble incoherent things as I packed up my things so we could start walking to the House of Salvation.

"Do you want any breakfast Kira?" Raine asked.

"Who made it?"

"Kratos did."

I started to gag and ran to a conveniently placed bush. Thank the gods for bushes. Bushes rule.

"I'll take that as a no…" She sighed. "Do you always kick her when you wake her up?"

"Yes!" I yelled from behind the bush.

"She won't wake up any other way."

"I'll try to wake her up tomorrow." Raine replied as she finished packing the last pot.

I now love Raine! I hope she can figure out a nice way to wake me up without kicking me… I usually used an alarm clock or my cat would wake me but I can't use them anymore… now all I can do is hope Raine won't hurt me when she wakes me up tomorrow.

When everyone was finished packing up their things in the seemingly bottomless bags, we headed to the House of Salvation. After about an hour of walking, we could finally see it. Crud… Kratos doesn't pray to Martel so he wouldn't go pray or anything like that… and he knows I won't. Dang, that just gives him more interrogation and/or training time with me. I really hope his anti-social nature kicks in and he'll just go off somewhere…

"Can't we just skip the House of Salvation and keep heading toward Triet? We'll make better time and regenerate the world quicker."

"But we need to ask the goddess Martel for help on our journey!" Colette huffed.

"Umm… Don't hurt me?" I said uncertainly. Note to Self: Never insult Martel in front of Colette or suggest skipping praying to Martel.

"Wha? I'm not going to hurt you Kira!" Colette replied, surprised.

"Never mind…" I guess that skipping the House of Salvation is out of the question now. Please be anti-social Kratos… or at least nice. Who am I kidding? I'm doomed.

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"So both you and Kratos won't come in to pray to Martel with us?" Raine asked.

I looked over at Kratos who was leaning against a fence with both arms crossed and eyes closed. That's a definite 'no' for him. "No Raine, I'll have to pass."

Colette looked at me pleadingly, silently asking me to reconsider. If I know that Martel isn't a real goddess and Cruxis is just a lie, why would I pray to them?

"We'll just wait out here while you pray." I looked at Kratos again; he didn't move an inch. At least he's not interrogating me.

"Fine then." Raine stated as they both walk into the House of Salvation.

As soon as they walk in, all hope shattered. "Kira, I need to talk to you." Kratos said and walked toward the few trees behind the building.

I sighed, stalled for a couple minutes and then followed. When I reached him, I found that there was a tree with a nice low branch that was easy to climb onto, and perfect for sitting on. If he's going to interrogate me, I might as well be out of his sword's range. I climbed onto the branch and turned toward him. "Soooooo…" I said as he stared at a random flower, lost in thought.

"What do you know about this dimension?"

"Everything that's going to happen on this journey, if all goes as planned."

"You know all the twists and turns this journey will bring?"

"I don't exactly remember everything. It's been at least a year since I last played the game. I think it's best if I don't tell you the stuff I do remember. There's no telling what it would do to this world."

"Understandable. But I want you to tell me everything you know about _**me**_."

I saw this coming… "Not all that much really. I just know how Anna died, and you were separated from Lloyd when he was little."

"Anything else?"

"You're over 4,000 years old and you're Origin's seal. You have some sort of thing for stargazing too. That's pretty much it. I really know very little about you."

"…"

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"You did fail to mention how you figured out my hate for tomatoes."

"You are horrible at cooking anything with tomatoes in the game, and there was more than one joke about exactly how much you hated them… I never thought you hated them enough to take one bite and…" I trailed off because I started snickering and didn't want it to turn into uncontrollable laughter.

He waited until I was quiet. "What do you plan to do after this journey is over?"

"I have no idea. I died in my dimension so I don't really belong anywhere… I guess I'll just figure it out when the time comes!" I said with a weak smile.

"You're terrible at hiding your emotions."

I held up my hands and shook my head. "I know, I know… It still doesn't change my plan though."

"Why are you so calm about this?"

I shrugged. "I can't stress… and I'm a Pisces so I just go with the flow."

"Can't stress?" He echoed.

"Yeah. It's kinda weird but I'm physically unable to stress for more than 5 seconds. Instead of stressing, I just get really sleepy.

Kratos didn't reply and went to a tree and started carving in a target.

"Kratos... do I have to?"

He ignored me and continued to carve in a target.

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"Let's face it, I am never going to get any better at archery."

"How do you expect to improve with that attitude?"

I glared at the mercenary who just told me to be optimistic in his own special way. I sighed again and turned toward the tree with a target etched into it. I do admit I have gotten better… I mean most of my arrows hit the tree itself but out of about 50 arrows, only 4 hit the bulls-eye. Why do I have to be an archer anyway?

"Kratos do I really have to be an archer?" I whined.

"What do you plan on being then? You are a healer. You have very little choice in the matter."

"What about you? You heal and fight with a sword."

"Are you suggesting that you want to fight with a sword?"

"Ummm…" I honestly never thought about what weapon I'd like to use. In video games, I'd always preferred a nice, thin, fast sword. "Sure. A sword would be better than this bow."

"No."

"Wha?" Okay now I'm confused… didn't he just ask me if I wanted to use a sword? "Wait a sec… why can't I use a sword?"

"You cannot be healed by spells or by gels. You using a sword is suicide."

"But I suck at archery…" I whined. He does have a good point though… damn. He always has a good point. I honestly don't feel like dying again. It's not a very pleasant experience. At least it doesn't hurt like everyone else thinks… or maybe it didn't hurt because they injected something into me.

"Stop whining."

"But I like to whine." I pouted.

He sighed. "Why don't you try learning some attack spells?"

How does he always come up with obvious answers to my problems? He makes me feel dumb… stupid Kratos… "So what spells can I learn then?" I asked, curious.

"I have no idea what you are capable of learning. I have never encountered a fox demon before."

"How about Fireball?" I asked with puppy-dog eyes.

He glared. "No."

Curse him knowing about my pyromaniac nature. I'm really not that bad… I'm really only slightly a pyromaniac… along with slightly insane, but everyone is slightly insane if you think about it. Those are some qualities that people label as 'bad.' I honestly like the way I am including the bad.

"So how about some light and/or dark magic then?" Yes, I really do say and or when I'm talking sometimes… It's kinda weird but eh, whatcha gonna do?

"Light and dark magic are too advanced for you. Why don't you start with some basic elemental attacks?"

"What do you suggest then, Mr. Know-it-all."

He ignored my comment and made a suggestion anyway, "How about Aqua Edge?"

"What makes you think that's such a good choice? I honestly think Fireball is better."

"I will not teach you any fire-based attacks. Aqua Edge is a simple water attack that you should easily master."

"Why should I easily master it?"

"You said yourself that you are a Pisces. Your love of fire is unnatural for a water sign."

"I should have known that out of all people, you'd know about astrological signs… what sign are you anyway?"

"Scorpio."

"Seriously!?" A water sign. No wonder I like his weird personality… it screams Scorpio. On the other hand, it could be the fact that I like weird things. I do hope everything about Scorpio's doesn't apply to him… because if they do… O.o Wait a second, if he's a water sign how come he doesn't use water based attacks? "Hold up a sec, if you're a water sign too how come-"

"Enough talk. I need to teach you Aqua Edge before their prayer service is over."

I'll just ask him later. "How long does that last exactly?"

"About 5 hours."

"Damn…"

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"Kratos! Kira! Where are you?" Colette called out.

I looked up from casting another Aqua Edge. Spells are so much better than archery. I have mastered Aqua Edge in less than 5 hours. It isn't exactly a strong attack but at least I can aim properly with it and it takes me only a few seconds to cast. Now that I think about it, a water attack is the best to learn since the first seal is the Fire Seal. After Colette called a few more times, she eventually found both Kratos and me. She ran up to me with Raine following closely behind.

"You're a mess Kira." Colette giggled.

"Huh?" I replied, dumbly.

"You're soaking wet."

I looked at myself and gave a weak smile. "Well, a failed Aqua Edge will do that to ya."

"Wow. You know attack spells too? I thought you only knew healing."

"I just learned it."

"Can you show me?"

"Sure." I cast Aqua Edge on Kratos who took a step behind a tree to avoid it. "Dang… Just you wait till I learn an attack that you can't dodge by just walking behind a tree."

"Perhaps I should stop teaching you spells."

"Don't do that."

He raised an eyebrow as if asking 'and why should I continue to teach you?'

"Ummm… because I love you?" I said, uncertainly.

He gave me a weird look and walked toward the House of Salvation.

Colette kept looking from me to Kratos as if asking what just went on between us.

"In case you're wondering, He silently asked why he should keep teaching me spells."

"Oh I get it now! You said you loved him as a reason to have him keep teaching you spells."

"Nothing gets past you…" I muttered.

"Fascinating!" Raine exclaimed with that scary look in her eyes.

"Wha…What's so fascinating?" I asked, silently praying to whatever god exists in this world that I still have human ears.

"The bond you and Kratos share!"

I looked at her like she was insane. That's a first for me to look at someone else like they're crazy… usually I'm the one receiving the looks. I've only known Kratos a couple days more than her… well I knew 'of him' for a long time but…

"You're bond with him is amazing. Not many people can master spells in a few hours and you can also tell what he means by something as simple as him raising an eyebrow."

"That's not amazing at all. I'm just a natural at water spells." The whole me understanding his body language thing is probably because I used to have a friend who didn't like talking much so he mainly used body language or it could be that I always paid attention whenever Kratos was speaking in the game. I'm crazy like that. If I was playing the game and he was speaking and my little sister or mom would walk into the room trying to talk to me I'd immediately yell 'Shut up! Kratos is talking!' I'd also do that whenever I watched Noein and Karasu was talking… come to think of it I do that whenever my favorite character with an awesome voice (in my opinion) would come on screen. I have a lot of them. Too bad I was grounded every time I yelled at my mom… Despite my explanation, Raine still had that crazy look in her eyes. I thought it was just ruins that got her like this but I guess she gets this way around anything or anyone she can study.

"I think I'll just go see what Kratos is up too." I said as I slowly inched away from her, toward the House of Salvation to cower behind said mercenary. When I was out of her line of sight, I raced into the House of Salvation and ran up the stairs to the area where the beds are. As soon as I burst into a bedroom, I locked the door behind me and leaned against it.

Ironically, I picked the room Kratos happened to be in. He looked at me curiously.

"Raine was looking at me like some sort of research subject…" I explained while trying to catch my breath.

"Did she find out you are a demon?"

"No. My ability to read your facial expressions as well as learning Aqua Edge in a few hours were enough to get that crazy look in her eyes. If she ever finds out about me being a demon..." I shuddered.

"I see." He replied and returned to reading a book. I guess that's what he was doing before I burst in.

"Do you have anything else to read?" He made a small gesture toward a bookshelf. I went to look at what books there were and found that most of them were about Martel. A few were about math and science. I found one about history and took it out. If I have to take that test at Palmacosta I don't want to look like a complete idiot.

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Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Open this door!"

Bang! Bang!

"Huh? I said sleepily as I slowly regained consciousness. I sat up and realized that I fell asleep reading about the History of Sylvarant. It was boring. If I want to learn anything about history, I should just ask Kratos. He was there after all.

"Kratos open the door!" Raine yelled.

I looked over to Kratos who was sitting in a chair and ignoring Raine by reading a book.

"What's going on Kratos?"

He looked up from his book and asked, "Did you know about her cooking skills from the game?"

I sweat dropped. "Um yeah… I wouldn't eat anything she makes…" Just thinking about it makes my stomach churn. It's true that I haven't eaten since the whole tomato being shoved down my throat thing (okay so it wasn't literally shoved down my throat…) but if her cooking is truly as bad as in the game… well Kratos did cast First Aid on himself because of it…

"Why wasn't I informed?"

"Let me guess… you ate some of her food and then cast First Aid on yourself."

"…"

"That happened in the game…"

There's complete silence except for Raine banging on the door and yelling about how her cooking isn't that bad and that he should wake me up so I can eat some dinner. How I stayed asleep during this, I have no idea.

"Raine!" I called out.

"Kira! You're finally awake." She said from behind the door, "Come downstairs and eat some dinner."

"No thanks Raine… I'm not hungry. I'm just going to go back to sleep."

"But you haven't eaten since last night."

"Believe me Raine, I'm fine."

I heard her sigh and walk away, probably back to the kitchen.

"Thanks for saving me from her cooking. I really don't have a good reason to avoid eating her food."

"…"

Awwww Kratos did something nice… or he helped me because he didn't want me to slow them down from food poisoning or he could have just been avoiding Raine because she was mad at him... I think way too much. Eh, I'll be naïve this time and think of it as him being nice. I smiled to myself as I curled up on the bed. "G'night Kratos."

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"How should we wake her up Professor?"

"Did you try shaking her?"

"Yes, and I even yelled in her ear."

"I don't know what else to try Colette… Kratos do you have any suggestions?"

"I could wake her up the normal way."

"No… Try shaking her again Colette."

"Mmmmpthh… stop that you stupid cat… you're tickling me…"

"I have an idea Professor! Why don't we tickle her?"

"Worth a try."

"Mmmm hahaha Okay stop it! Haha I mean it!" I laughed as I was rolling around the bed because Colette was tickling me. Once she stopped, she beamed at me and I noticed that Raine was on the other side of my bed and Kratos was leaning on the wall by the door. "Ummm morning guys. Why is everyone around my bed?"

"We were trying to figure out a way to wake you up and it seems tickling is the only thing that works." Raine answered.

"Oh. Next time can you be a bit nicer? I still have a couple bruises…"

"I'll fix that." Raine said as she casted First Aid on me. It didn't work. She tried it again and I stopped her before she tried a third time.

"It's pointless Raine. Both healing spells and healing gels don't work on me."

"But that's not possible… they work on everyone."

"Yeah… I'm special like that." I said as I got up and headed to the door. "What's for breakfast guys?" I added, trying to avoid any suspicion toward my weird nature.

"The Chosen made pancakes for breakfast." Sometimes I love Kratos. He saves me from answering questions… if he's not the one asking them.

"Great." I replied and headed off to the kitchen. The game wasn't very accurate when it came to buildings… the House of Salvation has a kitchen, four guest rooms, another bedroom for the priests, a prayer room, and a bathroom. It was a pretty nice place if you didn't have to go to the five-hour prayer service… that's insane.

I was drowning my pancakes in syrup when the rest of the group walked in and Kratos tossed me my bag. He's good at aiming because it landed on my lap. I need to find something he's bad at…

"We ate before you woke up so meet us outside when you're finished." Raine said before they all went to wait outside.

I shrugged and continued to devour my pancakes… I need to learn how to eat regularly.

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Yay for Ch6 being done! We found out what Kira is good at! Healing and water spells. She may be good at other stuff later on but eh… even I don't know.

**Insert random incoherent rant that eventually leads to asking/begging for reviews here.**

Next is Chapter 7 that is brilliantly named Triet.


	7. Triet

A lot of stuff happens in this chapter so have fun reading it!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Tales of Symphonia. If I did Regal would either be wearing a full shirt or no shirt. I mean c'mon! Why in the world would any guy wear half a shirt? It even has little strings on the sleeves! Some things I will never understand… If any other guy you know of wears half a shirt then I don't understand them either…

Big thanks to **JeanneAndHerAlters**, **NightShadeWolf,** and **Laur3 Sincl4ir** for reviewing! If you want to be thanked too then please review! (Heh. That rhymed)

"Blah" Normal Speaking

_Italics_ Telepathic Speaking

**Chapter 7 Triet**

"It's official. I hate deserts…" I groaned out. We have been traveling for a couple days and finally reached the desert area. All I see is sand, sand, sand, and oh look a cactus!

"Yay! A cactus!" I blurted out randomly when I saw the cactus.

"Why are you so happy to see a cactus?" Colette asked with a confused look on her face.

"It's not sand so it made me happy…" I mumbled in reply, my burst of energy that came from spotting the cactus already gone.

We continued walking for another hour before I get sick of the silence and boredom… What can I do to get rid of this boredom? Grrrrrrrrrr… There is nothing of interest to look at. So what can I do? "Kratos how much longer till we reach Triet?"

"…"

"Someone's having a good day…" I muttered.

"About three more hours." Raine answered. At least she answered my question… I wonder what's wrong with Kratos. He's usually not this anti-social, I mean, I directly asked him a simple question…

I sighed and started to mentally hum a couple songs since it's one of the few ways to kill time. I didn't want to talk to Raine after she started looking at me like a research subject. Note to Self: Never be in a room alone with Raine. Kratos has retreated into his anti-social bubble and Colette is… wait why can't I talk to Colette? It must be better than mentally humming songs.

"Hey Colette."

"Hmm? What is it Kira?"

"How was your life back in Iselia?"

"It was fun! Why?"

"Ummm. I just wanted to ask that's all. I mean, might as well get to know each other since we're going to be traveling together for a while."

"Okay! Well, I grew up in Iselia and Professor Raine was the teacher, and… I met Genis and Lloyd in school! How about you? Did you ever go to school?"

Oh crap. I should've listened to Kratos when he made up the cover story… "Ummm well… Kratos taught me some things and he had a couple jobs escorting some teachers, tutors, and a few priests so I've learned from them too."

"So you haven't had a real education?" Raine said and suddenly appeared right behind us.

I jumped and turned around to face her. "What do you mean no real education? Are you saying Kratos isn't smart enough to teach me?" Please God I beg you not to have her teach me on this journey… I don't want to learn anymore! Well, I'm honestly okay with learning but that would make me have to spend more time with Raine who I am currently avoiding.

"No, I didn't mean to insult Kratos." She said as she nervously glanced back at the mercenary. He ignored the conversation. I guess he's not going to come in and rescue me from Raine this time. Well, I have been relying on him a lot for that so I guess I can handle one conversation on my own.

"What did you mean Professor?" Colette asked innocently. Sometimes her innocence is adorable and other times it's just … sad… really sad.

"I meant that if Kira has learned from other teachers on Kratos' jobs then I should also teach her."

"No thanks Raine. I know all that I need to get by in this world… and I am not the best student in the world." That last part was a total and complete lie. I usually am considered the good quiet kid who sits in the back that pays attention in class. The reality is that I zone out or draw during class and just look at the book before class starts and Ace my tests. I've never really understood the people who randomly wander the halls during class… what's so great about that? There's no one in the halls. At least there are people to talk to in classrooms… unless you randomly walk into another classroom. That's also fun.

"I am positive that you are a better student than Lloyd…" This is what made Kratos glance over at us. Might as well have his silent question answered.

"How's Lloyd a bad student?" I asked.

She sighed and shook her head. "It's not that he's a bad student, he just doesn't pay attention and sleeps through class."

Thanks for telling me what I already know. At least Kratos learned something about his son… I wonder if part of Lloyd's stupidity has anything to do with Raine slapping him in the head all the time… "I still don't want to be your student Raine… I refuse to be taught by anyone who smacks people upside the head."

"What does that have do with me teaching you? I promise I won't hurt you."

"I don't care. I refuse to be taught by someone stupider than me."

She looks at me, shocked. "Wha? What did you say to me young lady?!"

I glare at her. "You heard me. How do you expect anyone to get any smarter when you keep killing all their brain cells by hitting them in the head and most of the time, I bet you don't even tell them what they did wrong to get slapped in the first place! Yeah, that's smart. Make them forget everything you taught them and don't tell them what they're doing wrong... Not to mention getting smacked in the head gives you a headache which makes it even harder to concentrate." I added as an afterthought.

I have to admit it's funny seeing Raine wide-eyed and gaping… she looks like a fishy! "You look like I fishy!" I giggled. I had to say it. She really did look like a fish.

Raine regained her composure and glared. I broke out laughing and she grabbed Colette's hand and dragged her further ahead of Kratos and me. I continued to laugh.

"Do you think that was a wise decision?" Kratos asked, finally deciding to get out of his little bubble.

I fell into step next to him and smiled. "Probably not, but someone had to get her to stop smacking people." I rubbed the side of my head in thought. "It really does hurt."

"…"

Dammit! He went back into his anti-social bubble… I need a pin to pop it… I sighed again and listened to Raine telling Colette to stay away from Kratos and me. Okay I know I was being mean but I couldn't help it… the desert is hot and I'm in a freaking trench coat and not to mention Kratos is being an anti-social jerk again. Sigh... As long as Raine stays away from me, I'm good. I don't want to be dissected. It's not like Colette will really listen to Raine. She's too nice to ignore other people in the group. I thanked my fox demon ears for allowing me to hear them. It's weird that I get a new body and STILL have an unnatural hate for tomatoes… I wonder if it's a psychological hate…

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We finally arrived at Triet. I must say that this town is bigger in real life compared to the game. There are more stores and most of them are buildings instead of stalls. The game is usually right but at least I know that these people don't sleep in those little stalls. I zoned out for a bit as everyone else looked at all the merchandise. I didn't need anything and I couldn't upgrade my bow… it was specifically designed for my demon body so I couldn't get anything better. I decided to browse the armor store and found out that my gauntlets are better than the stores. I sighed and turned around as I heard a crash.

I sweat dropped at the sight. Colette was just mobbed by some people asking about her the regeneration journey and she fell… through a wall. I've always wondered how her hair breaks part of the wall too… well that didn't change. Kratos helped Colette up and then we eventually found our way to the hotel.

After we paid for the rooms, Kratos went into his and shut the door behind him while Raine stomped into hers and slammed the door, leaving both Colette and me to blink at the doors.

I shrugged. "Do you want to go see the fortune-teller Colette?"

"Sure!"

We walk to the Fortune-teller's tent and it's not a 3 second walk like in the game… more like 10 minutes.

"Why were you so mean to the Professor earlier today?"

"I just didn't want her to teach me… I honestly didn't mean to be so cold."

"Maybe you should apologize to her."

"Ummm honestly Colette. The truth is that I don't want her anywhere near me. She looks at me like I'm some sort of experiment. I keep thinking I'll wake up with her hovering over me with some sort of dissecting tool."

She laughed. "The Professor would never do anything like that."

Maybe not to a human or an elf… but what about a demon?

I stopped thinking about it when we reached the fortune-teller's tent.

"Greetings. I am currently telling free friendship fortunes! Would you young ladies like a fortune?"

"I do! I do!" Colette squealed, acting like a two year old.

I shook my head at her and smiled. Sometimes the innocence gets to me… "Why don't I stay outside until your done then? Fortune's should stay private."

"Okay! I'll get you when I'm done."

I walked out of the tent and stand a few feet away. Thanks to my improved hearing, I can hear all of Colette's fortunes. Lloyd and Genis think very highly of her, Raine has a lot of faith in her, Kratos has a tiny bit of faith in her, and I think of her as a potential friend. Wow… I didn't even know I felt that way… either this fortune-teller's way off or she knows my feelings toward Colette better than I do… creepy.

"Now it's your turn!" Colette chirped happily as she pushed me into the tent. I couldn't help but laugh at her eagerness… she'll probably listen in on my fortune… I don't mind that much because I listened in on hers.

"So you do you want to know about?"

"Can you tell me what Raine Sage thinks of me?"

"Hmmmm. It seems that she doesn't trust you in the least. She thinks both you and your father are unusual and is watching you both very closely."

I knew that much. "How about Genis Sage?"

"He doesn't really think much of you at all. He just thinks you're insane."

"Hey! I'm only slightly insane!" I huffed.

There's a ten second period with me muttering about how people need to get it through their heads that I'm only slightly insane. I mean am I some mass murderer with a chainsaw? Do I hallucinate? Do I have massive mood-swings that end with me almost killing someone? Nope. So that means I'm only slightly insane.

"So… What does Lloyd Irving think of me?"

"Lloyd thinks you are a good friend."

"Does he seriously consider me a friend!?" I asked in shock. Well that's unusual. I barely know the guy and he thinks of me as a friend. I'm horrible at making friends. The ones I have now took me a couple of years to make and we first hated each other. Except for my best friend, she was a weird exception. We met when I was complaining about a preppy girl who was being a bitch; she overheard my ranting and joined in. What a weird way to befriend someone. I gathered my thoughts and asked, "What about Colette Brunel?"

"Colette thinks of you as a nice person that she wants to become friends with. It seems after I told her what you thought of her she no longer considered you a friend but as a potential friend, like you do."

"Oh well… I do want to be her friend…"

The fortune-teller then comes over and whispered, "She overheard what you said and now considers you a good friend."

I smirked. I knew she was listening. "What does Kratos Aurion think of me?"

"He is having many conflicting emotions about what he thinks of you. He is trying to decide whether or not you are trustworthy enough to help him. If you can prove to him that you are worthy of his trust he will become a close friend and a powerful ally."

Well that explained why he has been avoiding me lately. So now all I have to do is make Kratos trust me… Dang. That is not going to be easy. "Any suggestions on how to prove my trust?"

She shrugged. "You know him better than I do."

"Thanks a lot for the fortunes," I said as I gave her two hundred gald.

"But those fortunes were free." She replied, confused.

"You have to make money somehow. Anyway, I can just ask Kratos to buy me something if I need it and I already have plenty of gald. We already stocked up on supplies and we'll be heading to the Triet Ruins tomorrow so I won't get a chance to buy anything anyway."

"Thank you."

As soon as I left the tent Colette jumped away from the side of the tent and acted like she wasn't listening. I smiled and shook my head. "Let's head back to the inn. We don't want Raine thinking I convinced you to be a juvenile delinquent."

She giggled and we walked back to the inn. At least I remembered to tell the fortune-teller where we're going so the storyline isn't messed up. Maybe it was a good thing Kratos made Lloyd carry the sorcerer's ring. It is the reason he escaped from the Renegades… I still want it though…

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"Wake up Kira."

"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz…"

"Don't make me resort to drastic measures girl."

"Zzzzzzzzzzz… kitty's are so cute…"

"…"

"COLD! COLD! COLD! Water is very cold!"

"Shhhhh! Shut up before you wake everyone in this hotel!"

"Huh?" I looked at the person talking and see that it's Kuro. "How are you still alive!?!?" I screamed.

He covered his ears and flinched, "Must you always scream?"

I quickly covered my mouth. "Oops. Sorry. Ummm. How are you alive? I saw you die."

"I'm not really alive. You're talking to my soul."

"Wha?" I looked at him closely and noticed that he's transparent. I reached out to touch him and my hand went through his body. "That's creepy… Wait a second. How did you pour water on me if you can't hold anything?"

"That actually took me a while. I had to learn telekinesis so I would be able to move the water and that was no easy task. If I figured it out earlier, I would have contacted you sooner. I had to open the door to this dimension somehow."

"Okay then… why don't you be a good little spirit and go to the afterlife." I waved at him absentmindedly, and curled back up into the blankets. "Nighty night."

I felt his gray cat eyes glare at my back. He's never going to leave me alone…

He ripped off my blankets.

I sighed and took my sweet time sitting up. " What do you want then?"

"I want you to bring me back to life."

I stared at him. "And how do you expect me to do that?"

"Your body holds the essence of life. Do you remember when I told you that you're the perfect tool for conquering worlds? You can revive fallen soldiers."

"Okay then…"I replied. I've died, traveled to a different dimension, and met Kratos. This news really isn't that surprising. "Why exactly should I help you anyway?" This is the guy who kidnapped my soul and I really have no reason to trust him. He said that I am a tool to be used to take over the worlds… Do I look like a tool?

He looked at me, annoyed. "You are being difficult."

I shrugged. "I try my best."

We glared at each other for a full five minutes. He was trying to tower over me but it wasn't that intimidating because he was floating and I was still sitting on the bed.

He sighed. "What if I teach you telepathy? You won't be very good but at the very least, you could talk to someone telepathically."

Telepathy eh? That would come in handy with talking to Kratos without being overheard by the others, not to mention how I could mess with Lloyd's head, or sing annoying songs to Kratos telepathically. That would be fun! "Alright. It's a deal, but first answer me this one question."

"Yes?"

"Can you read my mind?"

He chuckled. "No. I learned telepathy but I was born with no natural talent of it so I can go no further than opening up a mind link."

"Mind link?"

_Yes. I've just opened up a mind link to you right now. With this link open, we will be able to talk telepathically._

_Really? Ummm… Can you hear me?_

_Yes._

_I need to learn telepathy… so how do I think without talking to you?_

_It's simple really. Don't focus on talking to me and think of your thoughts as private. I will tell you if you make a mistake… I don't want to know everything that goes on in your head…_

I laughed, "You're a smart one. So what exactly do I need to do to bring you back to life?"

"Follow me." He replied. He waved his arm and a swirling blue portal appeared with a door on the inside. He opened the door and walked inside leaving me to follow him.

"Fun." I said sarcastically and followed him into the portal/door thing. Why can't it just be one or the other and why does the portal have to be blue… These are the completely pointless thoughts that come to my head as I follow a guy I barely know into a random dimension… I'm smart.

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"Ouchies…" I muttered as I rubbed my poor behind after I fell out of the door/portal and onto the floor.

Kuro shook his head and floated around the corner.

I noticed that the door that I fell out of was the one that I randomly jumped in to avoid being killed. That reminds me… I never did get a chance to ask him why people were trying to kill me.

"Hey Kuro. Who killed you and why did they want to kill me?"

He looked over his shoulder. "They weren't going to kill you. They just wanted to enslave you and use you to conquer the worlds." He answered nonchalantly.

"Sounds like someone I know…" I muttered in reply. What a jerk. Who could act so apathetic to someone being enslaved? Hmmmm... How can I use Kuro's resurrection to benefit me? Aha! I just got a brilliant idea. In addition to teaching me telepathy, I could also make him swear to give up on conquering the worlds and become my ally.

When we reached his body, I had the urge to go up and poke it, so I obviously did. It was stiff and it smelled like a dead cat. In my school, they dissected cats in anatomy class and you could smell it throughout the entire building. I have a soft spot for cats so I could never take the class. The disgusting thing was when some of them opened up a cats' stomach and found kittens. They went from classroom to classroom saying that they're so cute and adorable while all I thought was WTF!? They're dead baby kitties. I mean they could've buried them instead of parading them around the building as a mockery of life. Those people sicken me…

I pinched my nose. "Ummm… Do you really want to be brought back to life in that body? It smells awful."

"You can repair it. Cast a healing spell on it and that should work."

I nodded in reply and cast First Aid on it… Nothing happens. I tried a second time and sweat dropped. "What now genius?"

He looked at me with a shocked expression on his face. "Is that the only healing spell you know?"

"Yes."

He turned a little panicky. "Have you ever tried anything else? Like Resurrection for example or maybe even Revitalize?"

"Nope."

He put a hand over his face. "Just... Try them now."

"Okay then Mr. Bossy." I tried and failed at the two spells he suggests. I got pissed in the process and ended up learning Healing Stream. "Sweet! I know Healing Stream!"

He sighed. "But that doesn't help me… it's not strong enough…" All of a sudden, he looked up, eyes shining. "Do you have a knife or dagger on you?"

I fished out the dagger Kratos gave me earlier and held it up for him to see.

He looked relieved. "Good. Now cut yourself."

I looked at him like he was insane. "And just why the hell would I do that!?!?"

"If you add your blood to my dead body, it will revive. Your body holds the essence of life and blood is the key to life. Without it, you cannot live."

"How about my organs? I need them too."

"Okay. Cut out your lungs and give it to my body then." Kuro said, sarcastically.

I sweat dropped. "Point taken… But before I revive you, you need to make some promises."

He eyed me suspiciously. "What kind of promises?"

"You must swear to never use me or my power in any way that I don't agree to, give up on conquering the dimensions, never attack me and any of my friends unless I agree to it, and still teach me telepathy."

He scoffed and crossed his arms while looking off to the side. "You must be joking."

"Am I?" I glared at him, evilly.

Kuro fixed his gaze on me and narrowed his eyes. "And what if I don't agree to your terms? And even if I did, there's always the chance that I'll go back on my word."

He had a good point. "Oh well… nice seeing you again." I said and started to walk back to Tales of Symphonia's dimension.

"Wait! Where are you going?" He yelled after me.

"Back to the only dimension I know of… you really don't expect me to walk into a random dimension do you? You do have a point… I can't trust you."

"Are you really that stupid?"

I spun around and glared at him. "Excuse me?!"

"Don't you know that no one can go back on their word if they swear their loyalty to—Shit…"

"You're either really dumb or this is a trap."

He made his kitty eyes go big and adorable and looked at me with a sad face. Oh no! I will not give in to the adorableness!

"Fine… but swear to me." I'm such a pushover. "How'd you know the kitty eyes get to me?"

"You talk in your sleep."

I guess Kratos wasn't lying about me talking in my sleep… that sucks.

"Swear to me."

"I pledge my loyalty to the White Fox Demon of Life, Kira."

As soon as he finished his sentence, his arm started to glow. After the glow disappeared, a white fox with five tails was tattooed on his upper right arm.

"What happened?"

"I wasn't lying when I said that if I pledged loyalty to you, I'd be stuck… forever."

Now I feel a little bad… but he knew what would happen and it was either that or death. "Sorry… but at least you'll get your life back."

He didn't answer and continued to stare at his arm. How a soul can get a tattoo, I'll never know.

I used the dagger to slit my wrist. I feel like an emotionally disturbed child who doesn't know how to fix their problems, so they cut themselves to make them feel better. That just seems pathetic to me… I waited for the blood to come out a little before I pulled the arrows out of Kuro's back and let a couple drops of my blood fall into his wound. Nothing happened at first but then his body glowed and then looks exactly like Kuro did when he was alive.

"Now grab my soul and put it back into my body."

"But my hand will just go through you."

"Not if you cover your hand in your blood first."

I smeared my blood all over my hand and grabbed his. I then tugged his soul toward his body and they fused together. As soon as I could no longer tell his soul and body apart, his arm glowed and the white fox appeared on his body's right arm.

Kuro then opened his eyes, got down on one knee, and said in a mocking tone, "How may I be of service my dear mistress?"

I kicked him and walked back to the dimension that Kratos and the others lived in, not caring if he followed me or not.

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Yay! Chapter 7 is now complete!

So now Kira can revive the dead and blah and Kuro's going to tag along and Kratos gets Anna back and everyone is going to be really happy and cliched and blah, blah, etcetera, etcetera. If you think that then you seriously need to be shot... kidding! About the shot part at least... Unfortunately I can't explain anything or say if what I just said/typed is true or not because then that would kinda ruin the rest of the story but that was probably some of the things that most, if not all of you thought as soon as you found out that Kira could revive the dead. Bottom line is... I don't like overly happy and cliched things so the chances of that happening to this story is slim to none but at least there will always be humor! And some plot twists and a dash of evilness here and there too! .

Now for the random incoherent review rant that at least 2 people that I know of like! (Me and JeanneAndHerAlters) This time I turned it into a little mini-story that's based on my random incoherent rant about reviews!

REVIEW OR ELSE I WILL SICK THE EVIL BUNNIES ON YOU WHO WILL EITHER VIVISECT YOU OR EAT YOU ALIVE!!!!!!!!! I honestly think that they'd eat you alive because how are they supposed to hold dissecting tools without any thumbs... UNLESS THEY'RE MONKEYS IN DISGUISE!!!! AHHHHHH THE EVIL PINK MONKEYS ARE TAKING OVER THE WORLD!!!!!!!! ( I run around in circles screaming about their evil plot to take over the world and eventually create a path that is four feet into the ground. My brother, David, randomly walks into the room and watches for a good 2 minutes.)

David: What are you doing?

WhiteFoxDemon: FREAKING OUT BECAUSE THE EVIL PINK MONKEYS ARE GOING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!!

David: Sigh. Not the monkeys again. Aren't you over that yet?

WhiteFoxDemon: I WILL NEVER GET OVER IT WHEN THEY'RE STILL PLOTTING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!!!

David walks out of the room and comes back a few minutes later with a banana and a blanket. He eats the banana and throws the peel into the path that I have created. I trip over the peel and knock myself unconscious.

David: At least now I can finally get some sleep...

David throws the blanket over me and walks off to his room to go to sleep.

Don't I have the nicest brother? He remembered to cover me with a blankey so I don't catch a cold I also just realized that I'm quite fond of using caps during rants.

**Moral of the mini-story: Always remember to review!**

**_Nex chapter is called..._ A New Group Member.**


	8. A New Group Member

Here is yet another chapter. Depending on who you are, you can either cheer or boo. But if you're booing why in the world are you reading this right now?

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia, if I did then Lloyd would not be wearing suspenders because... who wears those things anymore? Well, besides my Grandpa but he's allowed to.

Thanks to **JeanneAndHerAlters**, **I.K.A. Valian**, **Hdshbsag**, **Laur3 Sincl4ir**, **Daughter of the Storm**, **Elenturi, and Rushingriver** for reviewing. You all make me smile!

"Hello." equals Normal talking

_"Jimmy cracked corn and I'm still trying to find someone who cares." _equals Telepathic speaking

**Chapter 8 A New Group Member**

"Do you have a plan on how to introduce me to your little group?"

"Shut up… I'm working on it."

Both Kuro and I were back in the ToS dimension, sitting on Triet's hotel roof to be exact. Kuro changed his clothes before we left his lab. I'll just explain his looks as well as what he's wearing because it tends to avoid confusion. He has piercing gray cat eyes that could make your blood run cold if he glared, (Too bad it's not as good as Kratos') he made his ears appear human and his tail was gone. He has shaggy black hair and is now wearing a black bandanna with a gray T-shirt, black pants, and black boots. We were discussing how I could get Kratos and the others to let him join the group. By 'discussing', I meant me moaning about how I didn't have a clue while he mocks me and by 'others', I meant Raine. Colette has always been the type to accept people openly but Raine already hated me and doesn't trust Kratos. Think about it, an eighteen-year-old guy with gray eyes who wears black. Let's face it, Kuro's no boy scout.

"Now do you have a plan?"

"No. Now shut up."

2 minutes later.

"...How about now."

I shifted my eyes over to look at him without turning my head. "Do you enjoy torturing me?"

He smirked. "Yes."

I groaned.

5 minutes later.

"Have you come up with a plan now, my dear, sweet, sweet mistress?"

"What's with the mistress?" I decided to ignore the dear and sweet part for his sake.

He looked at me curiously. "You are my mistress."

"… Stop calling me mistress… just call me Kira."

"How about Mistress Kira?"

"No. Just Kira."

"What about Miss Kira?"

"No. Kira."

"How about Mistress Kira, White Fox Demoness?"

I gave him a blank stare. "You're enjoying this aren't you?"

He smirked. "Very much so."

"I don't like you anymore…"

He put on a fake hurt face. "I'm crushed."

"…Jerk…"

Kuro stood up suddenly alert and looked in the direction of the oasis.

"What's wrong Kuro?"

"You're angel friend is heading back to the hotel."

"He left the hotel?" I asked, confused.

He looked at me incredulously. "Think about it. Wouldn't he have come into your room when you were screaming at me? The only reason the other two didn't was because that teacher hates you and the girl was dead tired by the time you came back to the hotel."

"Good point."

"Did you ever come up with an excuse to tell him about me?"

"Yep. Just stay here for a couple minutes." I jumped off the roof and walked over to Kratos.

"What are you doing up at this hour?" Kratos asked.

"The real question is, what are YOU doing up at this hour." I retorted.

He raised an eyebrow.

Yeah, I know. That was a pathetic comeback. "Fine, I'll tell you why I'm up. Do you remember when I first met you and I told you about how my soul was kidnapped by a cat demon named Kuro?"

"Yeah. Well, he's kinda on the top of the hotel right now."

"You said he died."

I smiled sheepishly. "Funny story actually… it seems that my body holds the essence of life and can revive the dead."

Kratos stared at me in shock. "You can bring back the dead?"

"I don't really know all the details… Hey Kuro! Come down here!" I yelled.

Kuro jumped down and walked over to us.

"Yes. She can bring back the dead under certain conditions." He just dives into conversations now doesn't he?

"Conditions?" I echoed, "What conditions?"

"You can only revive the dead if their soul has not moved on to the afterlife and if you try to revive someone who has been dead for over a year, your body will go into a state of shock and you will endure extreme pain that will last for about an hour, then you will either go into a coma or most likely die. I highly recommend not trying it."

"Why am I just finding this out now?"

Kuro smirked. "You never asked."

"Why did you bring the man who kidnapped your soul back to life?" Kratos speaks! It's a miracle! He did not go "…"

I walked over to Kuro and wrapped am arm around his shoulder in a friendly gesture. It's a funny sight because he's a lot taller than me. Before I could tell Kratos about Kuro's loyalty, Kuro wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Can't you tell she's fallen madly in love with me?" He dramatically stated.

I gaped at him. I couldn't believe he said that with a straight face. Now how should I hurt him? I smirked as I shrugged him off and kicked him where the sun don't shine. While Kuro was writhing on the ground in pain, I picked up his arm with the tattoo on it and showed it to Kratos.

"This tattoo appeared when Kuro pledged his loyalty to me and he can't go back on his word even if he tried." I explained.

"I see. Is this how demon's pledge their loyalty?" Kratos asked, completely ignoring Kuro who is currently writhing on the ground in pain.

"Not… exactly…" Kuro managed to say when he sat up. "The symbol only appears when you pledge your loyalty to the white, black, or blue fox demon. Kira is not the only created demon. She has a sister who is the black fox demon. Unlike Kira, she is an excellent warrior who holds the essence of strength. She was the one who tried to steal Kira."

"Again I ask. Why am I just finding this out now!?"

"Stop. Yelling. It's very annoying. Now where was I? The black fox demon wants your power, and you're related to her by your demon body's blood. As I go back to the pledging topic, the tattoo represents the created fox demon you pledge your life to."

"As long as there are no more surprises… I'm good."

"One last surprise Kira, you can only die in battle now. You're body holds a large life force when compared to other living things. Every living thing carries some life but you carry a lot more. The black fox demon has an abnormal amount of strength and endurance. You're body will probably stop aging somewhere between the age of twenty-four and twenty-five."

"Great... Anything… else…?" I said slowly, my voice filled with malice.

"No. That's everything I know. The real problem now is that we still don't have a plan on how to get me to join your group."

"Dammit… you're more trouble than you're worth… I'm going to bed. Have fun figuring it out you two." I walked toward the hotel entrance waving to them absentmindedly while I walked.

"Good luck getting some sleep. It's six in the morning right now."

"I'll kill you when I wake up… damn cat." I muttered not bothering to turn around.

* * *

I was never able to fall asleep. I was lying awake in bed for a half hour before Kratos and Kuro walked into my room.

I sat up. "Did you guys come up with a plan?"

"Yes, but you will not be fond of it." Kratos replied.

I did not like that answer. "And why's that?"

"We decided that I'm your boyfriend who has tracked you down" Kuro shrugged. "It seemed like the easiest solution."

"Let me guess. By you both deciding what you really mean is that you stood around in silence for a while, Kuro came up with an idea and Kratos didn't care enough to object." I turned to face Kratos. "Why couldn't you think of anything better?"

I groaned. "Great. Just great. Well then, I'll just have to tweak the story a little. How about annoying ex-boyfriend who randomly shows up who I'll chase off by tomorrow?"

Kuro put on a fake hurt face. "I'm hurt. Am I really that annoying to you?"

"…" I stole Kratos' line. If you can call it a line.

"How about if I'm your brother? If I really annoy you that much then it should be an acceptable excuse."

"But my story is that Kratos adopted me when I was five."

He thought for a moment before answering. "How about he took me in also when I was six, we are brother and sister by blood, and I got sick of Kratos and ran away when I was twelve."

"If we were related wouldn't I have gone with you when you ran away?"

"You are so hard to please..." Kuro sighed. "Let's say I thought you would be better off with Kratos taking care of you."

"That would work… What do you think of the plan Kratos?" I asked.

"You both are making me look weak."

"That's okay. Your glare can make up for it."

"I second the glare." Kuro added.

"What did you do to make him glare?" I inquired.

"I questioned his sexuality."

I fell off the bed. "You did what now?"

"Gay guys wear purple and pink. Straight guys don't."

I sat up on the floor while laughing and looked at Kratos who made the wise decision to ignore our conversation. "And Kratos' answer was?"

"A sword to my throat complete with his death glare." Kuro shuddered. "I thought he was going to kill me."

"That's what he did to me when I first met him! As far as guys wearing colors go, I say that they shouldn't wear purplish pink but that's just because that weird color scares me. On second thought, no one should wear that color."

"You're scared of a color…"

"Maybe…"

Kuro laughed his head off and I jumped on him trying to strangle him. We were rolling around on the floor with Kratos still ignoring us when Colette and Raine finally decided to burst into the room, weapons in hand.

"What's going on in here!?" Raine demanded as she went to try to break up the fight. If you can call it a fight. It's really just Kuro laughing and holding back my arms with me attempting to claw his face off. Kuro's not exactly weak.

Kratos stopped her before she got too close. "Leave them be. They won't kill each other."

"But Mr. Kratos, Kira could get hurt!" Colette exclaimed as she tried to get near us.

"Calm down Chosen. Kuro would never harm his sister."

"I thought Kira was an only child." Raine asked suspiciously.

Meanwhile Kuro stopped laughing, had my hands pinned behind my back, and managed to set me on his lap, with me still struggling. I sighed in defeat and looked up in time to hear Raine's question. She doesn't trust us at all.

"Morning everyone! ...uh... Why is everyone in my room?"

"Are you alright Kira? We heard a lot of banging coming from your room and we thought you were in trouble." Colette explained.

"That would be Kuro's fault. Ummm can I have my arms back now?"

Kuro chuckled and released my arms. We both stood up.

"Colette, Raine, I'd like you to both meet my brother, Kuro. He randomly decided to show up last night and asked if he could join us." I paused waiting for their reaction. "Sooooooo... What do you guys say?"

"We don't have enough money to pay for his services along with Kratos." Raine pointed out. In reality, she just doesn't want another 'Aurion' around. Kratos was right when he said that we were making him look weak. Throughout this journey, he went from childless to having three kids. Two of which aren't really related to him and the last one doesn't even know his father's alive. Awwww Kratos _**is **_a big softie.

"That's fine. I don't need to be paid. I just wanted to see my sister again."

I turned to Collete. "So what do you think about my brother joining the group, Colette?"

"The more the merrier!" She happily exclaimed while clapping her hands together.

Sometimes I love that girl. She is so easy to predict and it just makes my life ten times easier.

"To the Triet Ruins then?" Kuro said, uncertainly.

My stomach growled. "Heh. Can I eat breakfast first?"

Kratos "…"'s while Kuro laughed. Raine, Colette, and I sweat dropped.

We were on our way to the Triet Ruins and both Kuro and me were bored out of our minds because there isn't really anything interesting in the desert. It's just sand. It'd be very depressing if I didn't have anyone to talk to. Luckily, Kuro was there. You would think he'd be a stick in the mud because he was a scientist bent on taking over the worlds but Kuro had an okay personality.

"To the Ruinie Ruinie Ruins, we are heading to the Ruinie Ruinie Ruins! Which is the next seeeeeaaaaaal! Oh yes, it is the next seeeeeeaaaaal!" Kuro and I sang.

"Can you two please stop singing?" Raine groaned out.

"No can do." I answered in a singsong voice, "We can't stop because…"

"We are going to the Ruinie Ruinie Ruins, we are heading to the Ruinie Ruinie Ruins! That is the next seeeeeaaaaaal! Oh yes, it is the next seeeeeaaaaaal!" Kuro and I continued to sing completely ignoring Raine's protest. Colette kept giggling at us because it was funny seeing Kuro and I walk with our arms around each other's shoulders, singing. He was a lot taller than me so that made it even funnier. Kratos was trying to ignore us. The key word is trying. You could tell he was slowly getting angrier and more annoyed by the fact that the hand on his sword was slightly twitching… Maybe we should stop singing…

"Raine! Hey Raine!"

"Huh?" Both Kuro and I said simultaneously when we turned around to see Genis riding Noishe and yelling out Raine's name.

"What are you doing here Genis?" Raine asked, surprised.

"It's Lloyd! He was captured by Desians!" He explained.

Now I remember. This is the time when the Renegades capture Lloyd. This rocks! I get another person to sing stupid songs with!

"Who is the guy next to Kira?" Genis asked, confused.

"I'm Kuro, Kira's older brother."

"Introductions can wait. Lloyd's in trouble." I said knowing that Lloyd had a lot of trouble in the Renegade base.

Everyone stopped and looked at me curiously. Shit. I overdid that…

Kuro was the one to break the silence. "Does my wittle sister have a crush?"

"Does my big brother want to be squirming on the ground again?"

That shut him up.

"Why would the Desians want Lloyd?" Raine asked.

"Does this have anything to do with the time you were at the Human Ranch in Iselia?" Kratos inquired.

Genis paled. "How do you know about that?"

I slowly raised my hand and smiled sheepishly, "Was he not supposed to know?"

"You took Genis to the ranch! I knew you were a bad influence!" Raine yelled.

"Great. Another female that loves to scream and yell." Kuro muttered while rubbing his ears and glaring at me.

I walked away from the group a couple steps with my hands behind my back and an innocent look on my face.

"Raine… it was my idea to go to the ranch." Genis said quietly, "Lloyd and Kira went with me to make sure I didn't get hurt. The leader of the ranch Forcystus found out that we were at the ranch and…"

This is where Genis explains the whole Marble thing. I tuned it out and decided to greet Noishe. I walked over to the protozoan and he whined.

"Hey Noishie. How've you been?"

"Whine."

I looked over at the rest of the group who were all listening intently to Genis' story. Genis was explaining the plan to distract the Desians from Marble. This is taking too long… I don't know if me being here is going to interfere with anything… that's it, I need to get to the base and fast.

"Hey Noishe, do you want to take me to the base to save Lloyd? This story is going to take a while…"

Noishe shook his head 'yes' and lowered his body enough to let me climb on.

_Kuro, I'm going on ahead to save Lloyd._

_What!? Kira, that's not a good idea._

"Noishe, do you mind if Kuro rides with us? The others will catch up after the story and Kuro's a nice person."

"…Whine…"

_I don't think Noishe wants you riding on him…_

_I'm a cat demon. I'll just transform into a cat once we're away from the rest of the group._

"Let's go Noishe." I said after I climbed onto the protozoan and we ran in the direction of the Renegade Base.

After we couldn't see the group any longer, Kuro transformed into a cat that looked like a black panther with abnormally long fangs. They looked like a sabertooth tigers teeth. He was bigger than a normal cat but still smaller than Noishe. He easily caught up to us.

_Why are you riding on Noishe? You're slowing him down. If you transform into a fox, we'd be able to travel faster._

_But my fox form is so small it would be slower._

Kuro suddenly grew until he was the same size as Noishe. The protozoan's eyes widened.

Kuro chuckled. It is creepy to hear a giant cat chuckle…

_I've just explained everything to your friend. I think I'll teach you telepathy tonight so you can hold a conversation with him._

_That would be fun. So how do you change size when you transform?_

_All you need to do is think about it._

I nodded and jumped off Noishe's back. They both stopped for a second while I transformed into a fox and grew until I was the same size as Noishe. I've never really looked at my fox form before and from what I could see I looked like an arctic fox with five tails... why do I only have extra tails in this form? I'll ask Kuro later.

_I'm ready now. Let's go._

We all continued running until I tripped over my own feet. _Gah! _I yelled as I fell face first and got a mouth full of sand.

Both Kuro and Noishe chuckled.

_That looks tasty. Have you ever practiced walking on four legs._

I stood up and spit out sand. _Not once. And Triet's sand tastes awful. Would you care to try?_

Kuro gave me a weird look._ No thanks, but I recommend practicing running and walking in this form sometime. _

I nodded and all three of us continued on.

We finally reached the Triet base. There was only one guard on duty. Kuro easily snuck behind the guard and knocked him out. He transformed back into his human form and stood next to the door. I transformed into my human form also and walked up beside him.

"Can you go back and help the others Noishe? We can handle it from here but we're going to need their help."

"Whine." Noishe replied as he ran off to go find the rest of the group.

"Lead the way." Kuro said and gestured to the door. "You did say you were familiar with this dimension, correct?"

I nodded and walked to the door. It automatically opened and we step into the first room. This room has four pillars and is a lot bigger than I expected it to be. Luckily, it wasn't guarded. We walked into the next room with the three electric pillars and the giant cube in the middle. The cube looks more like a rectangle and it had a bunch of different colored wires coming out of it.

"Great…" I muttered looking around, "I forgot about this room…"

"So now what?"

"Do you know how to cast lightning?"

Kuro shook his head.

"How about work machines?"

"That I can do."

Kuro went up to the machine and opened up the path to the hanger. Lloyd then busted into the room, out of breath and covered in blood. Two Raybits closely behind him.

"Healing Stream!" I yelled when I used the spell on Lloyd. Kuro quickly took out the Raybits using his over sized double-bladed sword. What the!? His sword came out of nowhere! He just reached behind his back and it appeared! Some things I will never understand…

"Kira! What are you doing here?" Lloyd asked after he caught his breath.

"I'm here to rescue you. By the looks of it, you could use some help."

He sweat dropped. "Yeah well... I was doing fine on my own. Who's the guy with the big sword."

Kuro came over and wrapped his arm around my waist.

"I'm Kuro, her boyfriend."

Hmmmm how to hurt him this time… he never gets tired of that joke… I know! I then proceed to punch him in the stomach AND kick him where the sun don't shine. He never learns. Kuro squirmed on the ground, whimpering while I flexed my hand. I really hurt it when I punched him.

I glared at the cat demon. "No. Kuro's my idiotic brother who likes to make bad jokes that sound a lot like incest, which is so WRONG!" (A/N Everyone has their own opinions and, obviously, I'm not fond of incest.)

"Oh. Where are the others?" Lloyd asked, trying to ignore the whimpering cat demon on the ground.

"We went on ahead. They were taking too long hearing about Marble's death."

"You heard about that too…"

"Cheer up Lloyd. It's not that bad. I know people who have done things a lot worse than that. Anyway, now is not the time to dwell on the past, we need to get out of here."

_Kuro, can you open up the way to the control room?_

_Yes, but I thought we were leaving._

_Not yet. It's important that we get to the control room first._

Kuro didn't reply and opened up the pathway to the control room.

"This way." I said as I led the way to Yuan's office. I started walking down the hall and ran into a Desian. I ran into Yuan's office, Kuro and Lloyd following closely behind.

"And just who the hell are you?" Yuan asked. (Even though he's still referred to as ??)

"Give me your name and I'll give you mine." Lloyd countered.

"That's a really arrogant line…" Kuro muttered.

"I have to agree… by the way Mr. Blue haired cape guy, I'm Kira, that's my brother Kuro, and the arrogant punk in red over there is Lloyd."

"Dammit Kira. You just gave away our reason for him to tell us his name." Lloyd mumbled.

"Awwww. I'm telling Raine you swore."

"Why don't I tell Kratos about all the times you swear!"

"He doesn't care if I swear. I swear at him!"

"You really don't respect your Dad at all."

"I respect him… I listen… most of the time." I replied while deep in thought. He does have a point…

"Kratos is your father?" Yuan asked, incredulously. Sweet! I now love Lloyd. He unknowingly messed with Yuan's head. That's going to keep him up at night.

"How do you know who Kratos is?" Lloyd questioned.

Just then, Botta ran into the room.

"Sir! We've received reports that the Chosen's group has infiltrated the facility!"

Yuan then ran out before Kratos could see him and the rest of the group entered the room.

"Lloyd! Are you okay?" Genis asked.

"Are you all right? Are you hurt?" Colette added.

"He looks fine." Kratos stated.

"Enough talk, it's time to fight!" Kuro said as he charged Botta.

Kratos and Kuro were taking on Botta, while Genis was helping Colette with one foot soldier and I was helping Lloyd with the other. I cast Clarity on us both and we quickly took out our foot soldier. Raine had healing under control so I decided to help my 'family' with Botta. I cast Aqua Edge on Botta and ended up getting in the last hit. Colette, Lloyd, and Genis have already killed the other foot soldier.

"Sweet! I got in the last hit. I'm awesome like that." I said while striking a pose.

Everyone else sweat dropped.

"Ugh... I underestimated your abilities." Botta said as he dramatically threw down his weapon and ran out the door Yuan used earlier.

Raine inspected his weapon and I tuned out the rest until Kratos said…

"Save the chitchat for later. We shouldn't stay here long."

"Hahaha! I can't... haha believe it... hahaha That is so much funnier in real life!" I said in between laughs.

Everyone stared at me like I was insane. I hate it when you know a joke that no one else understands because they haven't seen a movie or played a game.

"He said chitchat…" I muttered.

Everyone except Kuro headed to the exit of the base while I was still sitting on the floor trying to catch my breath. Kuro rolled his eyes and picked me up bridal style before he ran out of the base. Once we got out of the base, he refused to put me down.

"Put me down Kuro."

"Hmmm what was that? Did someone say something?" He asked, looking at Kratos.

Kratos ignored him.

"I'm warning you, Kuro," I growled. "Put me down."

"Hey Lloyd. Do you hear anything?"

Lloyd snickered. "Nope. Nothing."

"Don't encourage him! Put me down you stupid jerk!" I started to struggle but he just held me tighter. Damn… he's really strong.

"Genis did you hear anything?" Kuro said looking around trying to 'find' whatever was talking.

Genis smirked. "Not a thing."

"I guess it's just the wind talking to me then." Kuro said with a fake faraway look.

I crossed my arms and thought... What would a cat demon want?

I got it! "I'll buy you a ball of yarn when we get to Triet if you put me down."

He looked at me, eyes wide with excitement. "Are you serious? No joke?"

I found his weakness. "Yep. I swear."

He set me down.

"Yay, I get yarn!" Kuro cheered.

"Yay, I'm on the ground!" I cheered.

I glanced over at the rest of the group. They were all staring at us. "What?"

"He let you down for a ball of yarn…" Genis stated, confused.

"Don't. Mock. The yarn." Kuro said with an evil glare. His glares are still scary… but Kratos beats him by far.

It worked on Genis though. "Yes sir."

I laughed. "So are Lloyd and Genis going to travel with us from now on?"

"Yes. They have nowhere else to go." Raine said.

"If you look on the bright side, now they get to travel with us."

"On the down side, now we don't have enough hotel rooms." Kuro added.

* * *

End of chapter...

IF YOU DO NOT REVIEW THEN AN EVIL LEPRECHAUN WILL HANG YOU FROM YOUR TOES AND TORTURE YOU VIA TICKLING AND WON'T LET YOU GO UNLESS YOU SWEAR TO REVIEW!!

I honestly would not like that kind of torture... too much blood rushing to my head. Anyway, chapter 8 is done! Chapter 9 is next and it's called **Who Doesn't Love Yarn and... Swiss Cheese?**


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